UK CCTV Nightmare
As a British Citizen in self imposed exile, watching the country where grew up rapidly descend into totalitarianism is a little depressing to say the least. Since I moved to the United States in the early 1990′s I have watched the UK gradually change into a surveillance society, where CCTV cameras on every street corner have become the norm and the vast majority of the British public could simply care less.
The ‘slow gradual’ change is a tactic that is being used the world over, but for some reason the UK appears to be the testing ground for this disturbing trend. The ‘slow gradual’ change is something akin to placing a frog in to a pot of boiling hot water, the frog will leap out of the water immediately. But place the frog in a pot of cold water and very slowly bring the heat up to boiling point, and the frog will stay in place and be gradually cooked alive.
Although the UK is bathed in CCTV coverage, statistics show that this has not affected the crime rate of the country in the slightest, and that crime prevention is apparently the main reason for the existence of these cameras ( at least that is what we are told). Here in the United States where local liquor stores have had CCTV systems running for a very long time, still get routinely robbed! It seems that using cameras as a deterrent, simply doesn’t work. So why are they so prevalent?
A new disturbing twist in this trend was reported this week, when it was announced that £400 million ($668 million) is to be spend on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in the homes of private citizens!
Why?
To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government’s “children’s secretary” Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.
It truly is astonishing to me that this kind of intrusive governmental meddling is tolerated by the apparently docile masses. This kind of behavior is gleefully ignored by the British public, but increase the price of beer or the tax on cigarettes and they will erupt with an extremely loud murmur for about half a second, only to be replaced by mind numbing silence as their heads clamp back down to their default position of conformity and apathy.
“Please sir, can I have some more..?”
