Some days it is so hard for me to keep my cheerful demeanor. I feel like for all the wonderful, helpful internet garbage I contribute to the world it never seems to make a difference. Probably, it doesn’t make a difference because it’s wonderful, helpful internet garbage. In any case I hope that any who stumble across this might recognize what is happening and take whatever steps necessary (specifically alerting everyone around them) to avoiding a future where we are all barcoded or implanted by the government “for our own good.”

I give you today’s entry in Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2176381/ listing any number of things going on in the world today. The first is a noninvasive test for smokers. It measures the carbon monoxide in your blood through your fingernail. Fantastic. Doctor’s can use it to check if patients are lying, and insurance companies can use it to decide to give you coverage. I love how we discriminate against people, then they lie, and then we develop technology to catch them in their lie. What a fantastic cycle. Like the traffic camera technology developed for a good reason--helping people remain as safe as possible through catching criminals or giving proper medical treatment--can now be assimilated into the system and used to watch every aspect of our lives. I see no problem with that. The second is about the chip. Oh, the chip. How I love the chip.

Do you know why I love the chip as much as I do? Because any sci-fi nerd who grew up reading books about dystopia s (I had to separate the “s” because Microsoft hates me) has learned over and over again the down side to tagging people. A lot of things are great ideas in theory--id chips, communism, spam, but you put it into action and things go a little wonky. People with interest in power, or interest in forcing people to live as they should, gain control and suddenly the chip isn’t used to make sure you have the right medical attention, the chip is used to make sure you are where you are supposed to be and doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Why does the government get to parent me? Not enforce laws--that isn’t the same thing, but parenting. Enforcement of laws means you punish me AFTER I break the rule. It means I am free to make the decision. Parenting means you ground me, lock in my room so I can’t go to the party where the bad decision awaits me. That’s great as a parent--your kid can’t be trusted so you don’t let the child engage in high-risk activities. But adults, adults should be able to be as intelligent or as stupid as they like. The government’s job is to hopefully catch them before they are too stupid, but you don’t get to try someone for murder before they attempt to commit it. But if you have a chip, a chip that tells someone, or anyone with the ability, where you are, then someone is watching you all the time. Isn’t that unnerving? Isn’t unnerving that even if they don’t watch you all the time, they can? My students’ favorite argument about the Patriot Act is that the government can’t possibly listen to all of our conversations at once, so it isn’t so bad. They are only going to watch you if they have reason.

What everyone fails to recognize is that if you’re innocent you always assume it’s obvious. Can’t you see I’m not a threat? Can’t you see you shouldn’t spy on me? But it doesn’t matter if you are innocent or not. It only matters if you are perceived to be guilty. Guilty UNTIL proven innocent. And even then, maybe guilty by association. If you have given up your right to fight that, your right to be innocent until evidence proves otherwise than it no longer matters if you are innocent or guilty. It no longer matters if you deserve what you get. It only matters if someone, with more power than you, thinks you do.

This isn’t simply America working to keep America safe. This is a basic changing of our democratic structure. It is a removal of our right to freedom--for conservatives, our right endowed upon us by “our Creator.” I keep writing about this because I’m scared. I’m not as scared of blowing up in a terrorist attack as I am of my own government. I’m scared of what it is becoming, of what is being accepted by the people. I’m scared that I’m going to die in a terrorist attack it allowed to happen because it needed to make a point. I’m scared that I’ll die in a terrorist attack and someone will use my death as justification of stripping civil liberties away.

You might think I’m overreacting, but I ask why. Because it can’t happen here? Because America wouldn’t do that? America isn’t a thing--people are a thing. All it takes is for the right (or wrong) person to be in power and for the people to let it be. We’ve allowed the wrong person to be in power for eight years--I don’t blame all of this on him specifically, though I do believe those who are to blame took advantage of the situation. But a leader should be intelligent. A leader should be strong. A leader should fight for more than what a country stands for; a leader should fight for what is right. And what is right isn’t decided by religion or even the Constitution. Right is decided by freedom and equality for all regardless of arguably immoral behavior. Right is decided by allowing all that is best in the human spirit to advance and grow. That is found in freedom to live and the opportunity to learn. Right is decided by allowing people to be wrong.

What can I do? What can any of us do? Maybe we can’t make a difference. Maybe we can’t change anything. But we can care. And we can say no when they tell us to implant a chip in ourselves or our family. And if you just don’t have it in you to care, then I suppose you just don’t have it in you to live.

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Poem on the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, MA.