Samson on the Run Down the Doubleplus Good Road to Serfdom

England is beginning to terrify me. Recently, Blair's government decided that they would "monitor children at important stages in their life" to see if they are at risk of turning into criminals. Even more frightening is the extensive video monitoring. Not only does England have 4.2 million closed circuit TVs monitoring the public (10% of the entire world's population of CCTVs), they're now adding a new aspect to it: the TVs can now yell at you.

From Page A2 of the National Post Today:

"A sytem of 'talking' CCTV cameras which let operators shout at people who misbehave is being extended across England, ministers said, fuelling fears of a 'Big Brother' society.
Under the scheme, local council workers in local control centres monitor pictures from the cameras and can berate passers-by if they feel they are doing something wrong."

After a 'successful' pilot program, the program is being extended across the entire country. Richard Thomas, the British government's 'privacy watchdog' is right - England is "sleepwalking into a surveillance society". I'm surprised there hasn't been more explicit outrage over this sort of program, and I'm sure that there would be much more opposition to such a program in Canada. However, one must take into account the fear that the population of England must feel, with rising radical elements in their society and a sense of ubiquitous terror as the population waits until the next inevitable terrorist attack.

Regardless, societies destroy themselves from within with such Orwellian measures. Programs like this are small hops down the road to serfdom, and this is precisely the sort of thing Hayek would get an epileptic seizure over. England is collapsing in on itself in a desperate attempt to fight its own internal demons, and ready to blind itself in the process. Britain is a blinded Sampson with its hands on the temple pillars, yet is not aware that in the process of bringing the temple down, Britain too will perish.

Further, what is worse about this program is the socializing effect it will have on children. Though the above link is abridged, the National Post version of the article mentions that "schools in many areas were holding competitions for children to become the 'voice' of CCTV cameras. Children are growing up in a society where not only is video surveillance normal, but one where children are encouraged to actively participate in the monitoring! How long until they begin reciting that 'War is Peace', 'Freedom is Slavery', and 'Ignorance is Strength'?

On the other hand, and on a happier note, I just recieved great news. Chocolate rations for this week in England have been increased to 40 grams!