To the main First Principles site: ../../ .
Australia is a land of wide-open spaces.
Most of Australia is thousands and thousands of miles from another country.
The threat we face comes not from over the waters, but lurks within . . .
lurks within the hearts and minds of a small minority of those who call Australia home.
Unfortunately, we have had to become suspicious of those who are in some way different.
Loners are a particular concern.
Most folk are good citizens, to be sure.
However, we should keep an eye out for those few indviduals
- and small, secretive groups of individuals -
who might be troubled or off-balance.
Unfortunately, these can be very hard to spot.
Most of the time, we can forget about these concerns and relax as a happy community -
or rather, within loosely connected and relatively happy communities.
Most citizens are reliable, salt-of-the-earth. Unexciting and unexcitable.
Most folk are never going to cause any serious trouble.
But in order to protect order and public safety, we must all sacrifice some of our freedoms.
Really, we are all individuals.
The temptation to categorise so quickly is blunt, unfair and shallow.
But sometimes safety depends on making quick judgements about danger, based on limited information.
Our government has wisely instituted compulsory RFID tagging of all citizens.
Tags come in a variety of forms, including small injectable devices: http://www.allflex.com.au/28.html
The tags are circular devices which, when energised with a suitable radio frequency field, transmit a digital signal which carries a unique, individual, identification number - such as 35QAV357XDW66092.
Resistence to tagging has largely subsided, and although the tags are plainly visible on the ears, most folk don't notice them any more.
From just after birth, it is illegal to exist without a Government-supplied tag being part of one's body.
(Did you notice the possibly Brahman-cross individual in the distance who does not seem to be tagged?)
It's not these pushy types, the ones at the front of every crowd, which have the Authorities worried.
Actually, its hard to say exactly who we should be worried about these days.
Which is why the Government's Agents are ever watchful . . .
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance . . .
or should that be "surveillance"?
http://www.google.com/search?&q=sedition+terrorism+Australia
~ ~ ~ o o o 0 0 0 o o o ~ ~ ~