A police state! how does this make you feel?

Citizen1984

I feel pretty bad.

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On the bright side: You have excellent taste in literature and cinema. 1984 is my favorite book. Fahrenheit 451 is a close second or third. And Network has to be one of the best movies ever made. What's so wierd is that it's such and old movie and TV is more bizzare than the satire could have ever imagined. You've made my day.

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Trouper: The examples are by no means "antiquated" they are timeless. Literature does not expire. And while I hate to think of Movies as "Art," Network was absolutely prescient.
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The point--and I don't mean anything personal, I realize that police officers enforce laws, not make them--is that our freedoms have been so eroded, our political leadership has become so corrupt that meaningful social criticism has become almost impossible just like Orwell postulated in "The Principles of Newspeak."

Do you have any contemporary books or films you think are on-point either for or against the proposition that the country is moving towards a police state? I'd certainly be willing to consider them. Thank you.

opal1331

You are %100 right, we, the older generation cannot believe what this country has become in the last 60 years or so, and I see some of the younger generation does not realize these facts.
Just look at the laws and government control over just about ever part of your every day living, to the point where they now want to tell us what kind of food the give our kids for school lunches.
True, many of the laws are supposed to protect us, but it make one wonder how we ever survived years ago without their interference.
And if you think the government is not involved in censorship of what we hear and read, you're head is in the sand, in fact, they're even now trying to re-write history and the constitution.

honna

If americans would quit acting like sheep and vote all these
career politicians out of office, we could put an end to this tyranny.

Mildred S

I've seen all of that . I hate it . In London, there are cameras on every street corner giving tickets and spying on citizens in and out of their private residences. GPS is here to stay and the technology keeps getting cheaper and better. Our own government in U.S. is investing several B in enhanced sattelite technology . I think we all know the cover story and the real reasons for this investment. I think that the technology can be used to protect us (from criminals and corrupt police ) and citizens can use this as an advantage to improve our life.

Wurzel

It's not far from coming,
Big Brother is already watching our every move.
We will have seperatist state within the next ten years i'm sure.

Zapgaia

Quite a few writers in the past have written about the rise of police states try
Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here which satirically details the rise of fascism in the 1930s United States.or Robert Harris' 1992 novel Fatherland which portrays a police state in its depiction of the society that the Third Reich would have established had they won World War II.One of my favourite films on the subject is the 2002 film "Equilibrium" which depicted a post-WWIII society known as "Libria" where human emotion is suppressed by destroying art, music, and literature, and executing anyone who does not take a government-required sedative known as "Prozium."

shitebird

like I'm ready for a real revolution . its time to get very hard with those that are hurting us. any one taking our freedom neds to know people won't put up with it. time to take a few rule makes out of the picture

Crystal Blue Persuasion

When those books and screenwrites were written, I don't think the people of that time had a clue what "the state" was going to resemble. Today, if we only open our eyes, we can see that the state is a feudalistic single world government.

Conservatism has always been the watchdog of the American Constitution and sovereignty. Today the majority of the people, who consider themselves to be conservative, rely on news that they get from a media mogul. Such as this globalist:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122948.html

This man isn't even an American. Yet the people, who believe that they are the guardians of the US Constitution and the American way of life, follow his propoganda like it's the gospel.

"The only thing worse than a free press, is no press at all."
George Washington

"It isn't what the media tells us that is important; it's what they decide not to tell us".
Me

trooper3316

You cited three dramatic, and antiquated examples.

How about a recent example?

hillary

I may sound dumb but are you talking about the UK or USA? I certainly agree if it is the UK and those who haven't realised it are probably already brainwashed. They certainly are rude.

paragong

this goverment want to control every aspect of our lives
the glorious nanny state at its worst
you cant smoke,watched in the streets,id cards it makes you wonder what else they have planned for us.

rjrmpk

Please report to the nearest detention facility and turn yourself in or we're coming to get you.

CLIVE H

Yes and it's far worse than you might think.

I can already see an end to democracy here in UK which is not nearly as well estabished as some people think.

What we have here now are politicians who only ever listen to the pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Greens in general.

Of course there's basically nothing wrong with listening to the people even if it is only the pressure groups with whom I agree anyway.

No, what we have now are a bunch of feckless MPs in the commons who cannot be bothered to equire about something on behalf of a constutent. My MP a London Black Cab driver is a complete prat and has never done more than send me a scribbled card in response and I have been unable to get beyond his thick skull on any issue.

Well, if you want to kick up some dust, here's how you can do it, simply visit the site below and find out exactly what your MP is doing and how much he/she is being paid etc. It's a real eye opener.

TheyWorkForYou.com
Helps make sense of what Members of Parliament say in the House of Commons and allows you to ... near where I live or work - they were moved to outlying areas ...
http://www.theyworkforyou.com

The only country on the planet right now which has anything approaching a real democracy is the USA - watch what's happening in Iowa right now. We get nothing like that here - only blah, blah and more effin' blah.

They only talk to us when they want our votes.

vdv_desantnik

Read them already and ive got the films as well. Try 'a clockwork orange' and 'the turner diaries'

Veritas

It isn't a traditional right wing police state, it is a left wing totalitarian regime. The schools/universities have been brainwashing students into left wing/PC/ feminist politics for years. The police have been politicised into left wing politics, and, consequently, have morphed into 'thought police' fighting politically incorrect crimes, but seem to have given up on what most of us regard as serious crime. We are being nannied to death, but it results from left wing ideology rather than right wing nationalism, which we usually think of as a police state.

Next step, a Federal EU, and something akin to Communism, where religion won't be allowed.

mebe1042

So how do you explain the ability to post your thoughts on an open forum. If we were living in a "Police State" you wouldn't be doing so.

It seems you missed the point of Bradbury and Orwell.

untouchable

I do not need to read the books,I have,and still am suffering from a kind of informal freemasonry,of course led by senior coppers,and have experienced just how dangerous these rodents are!people,ignore the warning signs at your peril!!

joan k

How can it be a Police state when even the Police don't agree with what this government is doing. I think Police state is the wrong terminology, but I do understand what you are saying.

kemlyn

it makes me feel like giving up on this country! which i already did when blair sold us out to the none democratically elected european union! as for the police. all they know how to do is generate money from the motorist. RIP ENGLAND! SHAME ON YOU MR BLAIR YOU TRAITOR!

Ozombie

animal farm is a good one too

Bazzo76

Police State = Someone like Hillary Clinton getting elected to President.

NO GUNS: George Washington: "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence."

HIGHER TAXES TO PAY FOR 'SOCIAL PROGRAMS' (ie illegal immigrants, drug addicts, criminals, etc):

LIBERALS: See above.....and do I really have to expalin anymore?

Now THAT'S a police state....

u_bin_called

ok....so you reached 9th grade reading level....I can't wait to see what you think of the world when they assign you Heart of Darkness and Catcher in the Rye....

Dirty D

we are not living in a police state

John W

A police state? What do you base this on? :Lately the only thing that comes close is banning smoking in public places.

El Scott

If I read Salem's Lot does that mean my entire city will be eaten by vampires?

The Saint

Living in a Police State!You have a lot to learn my friend. Think you'll find these books are indeed 'fiction' and you know what that means.

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