> I've always believed that something like 1984 could happen, not right away, but
> SLOWLY, *VERY* slowly over time. They get you to trade a few personal freedoms
> for the "good" of the people. They try and try and try to take away your right
> to bear arms and form militias in the US. They point to all the crime using
> guns and they just ask for a "background check." It sounds PERFECTLY
> REASONABLE, doesn't it? It could elminate certain crimes or could it? People
> jump on these bandwagons and meanwhile personal freedoms just start eroding away
> until the point where the conditions become RIGHT for blatant paranoia and BS
> nonsense to start occuring. Look at what's happening right now in the US. We
> have one tragic incident in New York and certain leaders in the government are
> moving as FAST as they can to TAKE ADVANTAGE of the situation. Now is the time
> to pass bills that will let them SPY on Americans freely and without search
> warrants. They want to be able to search private e-mail with reckless abandon.
> They want to ban public encryption methods or install back-doors so they can
> read things that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. Privacy and personal rights are
> going away people. You might as well put your life on TV like "The Real World"
> pretty soon because that's how much privacy you're going to have.

It's worst than 1984's dictatorship, it's a Brave New World like world we're sinking in more and more every day, as poeple are completely asleep and unaware of what's going on... French philosopher Blaise Pascal said one day something like (I'm translating right here from my memory) : "Tragedy of Man comes from the fact that he's unable to stay locked alone in his bedroom." It's the truest thing I ever heard from the mouth of a philosopher.

Anyway, I'm very sad seeing what's happening... I don't come there very often and I don't know both sides of the story, not even one... just the feeling of an observer...

Interviewer : "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman ?"
FZ : "You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table ?"

V@ssili