Wal-Mart joins up with WHO????

[Racket_Man]

Wal-Mart joins up with Homeland Security

In a campain called "See something, Say Something" some Wal-Marts will begin showing a HLS message on their in-store video screens. essentially the message will be "if you see something suspicious, report it to the WM manager.

Homeland Security Secratary says the following

This partnership will help millions of shoppers across the nation identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.”

If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately," Napolitano said in the video. "Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff. If you need help ask a Wal-Mart manager for assistance."

HLS wil also partner with transit agencies and some private entities, including the Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association and sports and general aviation industries.


I am of two minds on this

OTOH yes WM's, malls and hotels are a "soft target" yada yada and lots of people do gather there. yes there is a"potential" for mass whatever

HOWEVER

you got Gomer at da Wal-Mart being vigilant

this somehow smacks of a VERY slippery slope. Yeah I know this is going to sound kinda stupid BUT this is how small things lead to bigger things.

I point to the KGB, the Gestpo, the East German Stazie, the CIA, the FBI, Nightwatch on Bablyon 5 and to some extent the authoriarian Ministry of Magic in the latest Harry Potter book/movie.

view this Nightwatch segment from Bablyon 5. this is how the state spying on it own citizens (in many many countries including the US) got started. good propoganda to begin with ie. "If you are doing nothing wrong or have nothing to hide why worry??" it starts out soooo innocent and benign then devolves into made up stuff or revenge or subversion or misinterpertation any number of other things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXciZmZjXo8

Do really want the population watching/spying/tattling/making up stuff on each other????? how far should/will this be allowed to go????

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

Holy. Fuck. I don't even know what else to say at the moment, except this is...scary shit.

[Amanita]

I think we've been there before- the commie witch hunts of the McCarthy era.
This is something that I would be very nervous about if it came to Canada- I'm something of a non-conformist. I've been known to look different from the mainstream, or take part in non-mainstream hobbies and activities, as well as being part of a minority religion which is often misunderstood. I bet people like me would be catching a lot of shit from this, from people who either don't understand us, or actively dislike us.

I'm sadly all too familiar with the lengths that people will go to in order to get somebody they don't like in trouble- my asshole classmates used to do it to me a lot, instigating trouble and blaming me, or outright fabricating things in order to get me in more shit. I don't trust a lot of adults not to do likewise to people that they don't like, or just plain don't understand. After all, near where I live, an openly Pagan family suffered repeated violence from their neighbors until they were forced out of the community. The neighbors (mostly black) thought that the family's ritual robes were white supremicist garb (Never mind that there's a fuckload of difference between plain robes or cloaks, and the destinctive insignia and pointed mask/hoods of the Klan.

But all too often, it's those who are "Different", who catch the brunt of shit like this. Those with different political views, minority races or religions, non mainstream social groups, etc.

Now, I do remember seeing "See something? Say something!" posters on the Golden Gate Bridge- those were put there by bridge security, and warned of specific things- bags or packages left unattended, or people in (or trying to get into) places they shouldn't be. Now, if I see somebody (not in bridge staff uniform) trying to jimmy the doors leading to the anchorage housing (the anchorage is where the main cables of a suspension bridge are fastened to massive concrete foundation blocks), then hell yeah I am gonna say something! Tattle on the group of goths/hippies hanging out on the walkway minding their own business? Not so much.

I think there's a world of difference between warning of specific things (bags or packages left unattended, or people trying to access sensitive areas), and saying "report anything unusual", which is either so vague as to be useless, or encourages spying and tattling on anyone "different".

[Andara Bledin]

I've already had store security follow me around a Target before.

I can't imagine what kind of holy hell this is going to be. This is going to suck hardcore for both shoppers and the poor employees. You just know they aren't getting anything extra for having to deal with this nonsense. No money, and even the article says they're getting no additional training.

How many local grudges are going to escalate out of control because of this 'big brother' bullshit?

I'd ask how many terrorists this is going to stop, but I already know that the answer is absolutely none.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

Hey, another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart! Woo!

[Andara Bledin]

Hey, another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart! Woo!

As if I really needed any more.

^-.-^

[ExRetailDrone]

Have these idiots in charge learned nothing from history? Oh, sorry, silly question.

My husband and I were discussing this, and we're both wondering just how long until we become a full-fledged police state, since so many sheeple seem to have no problems going along blindly with moronic policies like these. I've been seriously considering trying to move the hell out of this country for a while, and hearing about this kind of stuff makes me want to ever more quickly. I want to be able to leave while I still have the freedom to have the choice.

[Rageaholic]

I think there's a world of difference between warning of specific things (bags or packages left unattended, or people trying to access sensitive areas), and saying "report anything unusual", which is either so vague as to be useless, or encourages spying and tattling on anyone "different".

This needs to be addressed by homeland security. Just saying "report anything unusual" means anything can be reported. There has to be a criteria for what's suspicious, otherwise, anyone can be suspected of suspicious behavior. Then again, if the terrorists are smart, they will find ways to blend in if they haven't already.

[lordlundar]

I think we've been there before- the commie witch hunts of the McCarthy era.

Bang on. Even worse now, considering the US has never been more divided since the civil war. And despite what those geopolitical maps show about "blue states" and "red states", when you get down to the raw numbers, you realize there's no cleanly divided lines.

Why does it seem to me that the US's politicians WANT another civil war to begin and are doing everything they can think of to do so covertly?

[Greenday]

Why does it seem to me that the US's politicians WANT another civil war to begin and are doing everything they can think of to do so covertly?

They don't. What they want is to get their way, consequences be damned.

[LadyBarbossa]

Oh, bad idea, very bad idea. For as many loony people as we get in there, the last thing we need is to give them the idea that they have this kind of 'responsibility'.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Youknow' it's always fascinated me how overblown stuff like this can get. From what I've seen posted here, vindictive people have been tattling and/or acting like jerks entirely without the aid of horrible, evil, 'government propaganda'. I see no reason why someone will see this message and suddenly get the idea to report every 'darned dark-skin' they see.

Really, it's the same as every other 'if you see something, call the cops' message the kind of which is everywhere if you look for them. Far too often people notice that something bad, or at least fishy, is going on and just brush if off instead of notifying authorities. Granted, it's often nothing at all, but often enough people get hurt and sometimes people die.

I fail to see why it's a bad thing for the people whose job it is to protect the public to actually, you know, fucking know what's going on?

This is the cost-effective version of the London security camera system. Only, in this case we get prior warning instead of after-the-fact records.

[Dreamstalker]

I've already had store security follow me around a Target before.

I got followed (not subtle at all) around a Best Buy. The reason? I was wearing a winter jacket (and later carrying it) because I had--shock, horror--walked through the snow from the train station rather than parking in the nice garage. The security guy was shocked when I told him to call mall security if he thought he needed to (he did, tried to say that my well-used-and-obviously-MINE MP3 player was the store's. They don't sell that player).

I can see it making sense if it specified what was suspicious (lone packages, scoping out security cameras, trying to jump the gun counter) but it doesn't. The MBTA has the same program; the announcements specify what suspicious means but people never listen to the details, they just hear "zomg I'm sposed to report that person leaning on the door".

[ditchdj]

Maybe Napolitano will send some of those new screening trailers that are currently being developed......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNXig2uJ-NM

----This video is DIRECTLY from the Department of Homeland Security. This is NOT something cooked up by some "conspiracy nut".

[Racket_Man]

Youknow' it's always fascinated me how overblown stuff like this can get. From what I've seen posted here, vindictive people have been tattling and/or acting like jerks entirely without the aid of horrible, evil, 'government propaganda'. I see no reason why someone will see this message and suddenly get the idea to report every 'darned dark-skin' they see.

Really, it's the same as every other 'if you see something, call the cops' message the kind of which is everywhere if you look for them. Far too often people notice that something bad, or at least fishy, is going on and just brush if off instead of notifying authorities. Granted, it's often nothing at all, but often enough people get hurt and sometimes people die.

I fail to see why it's a bad thing for the people whose job it is to protect the public to actually, you know, fucking know what's going on?

This is the cost-effective version of the London security camera system. Only, in this case we get prior warning instead of after-the-fact records.

Is it overblown (and mostly forgetten or ignored) how far these things can really go. we tend to ignore or "not see" all of the "acts" of our own government that have been touted as "good and necessary" or for the "safety and security of the people" or to "save American lives" then turned around and be seriously abused by those in power.

do we really want to live under constant scrutiny or live in fear of watching what we say to others or even fearing that every move we make could be taken wrong????

Talk to those who lived under the Communist system with the KGB and the East German Stasie, or maybe perhaps the Gestepo, or maybe even in the US during the Hoover FBI era AND the CIA. now ask all those Japanneese Americans from the WWII era what they thought of their "relocation" and forfeture of ALL of their property and "rights" (I do not recall hundreds of thousands of American citizens of GERMAN decent being herded into camps) just because they were of Japanneese decent.

And we have been here when President Franklin D. Roosevelt insisted that Executive Order 9-0-6-6 was necessary to save American lives � only to watch him use that Order to imprison and pauperize 110-thousand Americans�

While his man-in-charge�

General DeWitt, told Congress: "It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen � he is still a Japanese."

American citizens, in American camps, for something they neither wrote nor said nor did � but for the choices they or their ancestors had made, about coming to America.

from this Keith Olbermann commentary
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/...s_are_lies.htm

he lays out how OTHER American preidents have tried (and mostly failed) to "curb" our freedoms and "rights" for the "greater good"

please watch the Babalyon 5 clip I posted in my OP. this is the direction we are heading.

over the last 9 years it has become a "crime" to express a opinion different from the majority. how far a step is it to 1984's "Thought Crime"???? in the 1950's there were actors that had no know connection to Communism but could not even walk accross the background (no lines or real actions) in a scene cause "they might do something Communist"

throughout our human history fear tactics have alway used the "boggie man" approach. it seems that all one needs to do is whip up the population into a panic or frenzy by creating a situation where if the message is repeated enough it becomes "true"

in todays world it is "OHHHHHH OMG there are terrorists behind every bush" in the 50's - 80's it was "OOOHHHHHH OMG there are COMMIES behind every bush." other eras it was something else


where will it stop if the sheeple just go along/get along????


"Rights are not rights if they can be taken away. all they are are temporary privliages" - George Carlin