Sunday, April 15, 2007

OK, Big Brother is NOT watching

Let me speak into your lapel ... BIG BROTHER IS NOT WATCHING

With regard to the No Fly List item I reposted from other sources yesterday, a friend, whom I consider a very reliable source, writes the following:

The last story is absolutely, 100% untrue. Or at least the explanation of being on the no fly list is completely false. Take it from someone with experience with the no fly list. The clerk at American Airlines has nothing to do with the no fly list, placing someone on the no fly list, and obviously has no idea why someone is placed on the list. The airlines have nothing to do with the no fly list. Please don't use my name when you retract the story, but feel free to say it's from a very reliable source.

As requested, I won't use my friend's name. However, I find it an interesting sign of the general paranoia engendered by the current power structure that my friend would decline having his/her name associated with a simple statement of truth. It strikes me as an even better example of the degree to which Big Brother is watching then the story it seeks to dispel.

If anyone I know would be in a position to know whether or not one should be cautions in the face of unseen listeners who wield unsavory, dark and clandestine powers, my friend would certainly know far better than I. If my friend is watching over his/her shoulder when whispering something that is simply true ... not even an opinion, perhaps everyone should kiss their illusions of free speech good-bye.

Its one thing to feel apprehensive about knowingly distributing lies or half truths or politically charged opinions. It is quite another thing to be fearful of being associated with a statement of fact. But, then, in the world of Orwell's "1984" the facts were re-written daily to fit needs of the moment. One would not want to be associated with a fact today that might become something other than a fact tomorrow.

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