E-KNOW Editorial

“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself–anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face…; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime.” – George Orwell, 1984

The Investigating and Preventing Criminal Electronic Communications Act,’ or Bill C-30, currently being thrown in the faces of Canadians by a government apparently willing to give away checks and balances, is the scariest piece of legislation put forward by a so-called free society government since the George W. Bush shackled Americans with the Patriot Act.

Like the Patriot Act, the Barge Into Everyone’s Life and Civil Liberties Be Damned Act, is predicated on a subject/issue/social reality that most people don’t dare risk being seen as soft towards. The Patriot Act: not loving America and her safety. Bill C-30: child pornography.

How does one dare stand in the way of their nation’s security or in the way of safety of innocent children? Pshaw and tsk tsk tsk.

The quick answer is: easy.

When it comes to the loss of the civil liberties we enjoy, which do continue to erode on a fairly regular basis under the gouging, scraping advance of the computer age, that were won for us by our forefather’s sacrifices, we as a society must stand up and say ‘no – find a better way.’

And this doesn’t mean that anyone who is opposed to this Bill is in support of child pornographers, as goofy Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews suggested a while back.

Convicted child pornographers should be sent to prison in flaming pink clown suits, signifying to all what they are, and then carte blanche should be given fellow prisoners when it comes to shiving the sick bastards. And when they are released from prison, they should be made to wear tracking devices. We’re talking about convicted criminals like murderers, sexual predators (of all kind), kidnappers and that ilk. You get busted for doing the crime – you lose your civil liberties.

But we are allowing ourselves to be pushed to the brink of a frighteningly steep, slippery slope if we allow the Conservative Government to give police and government such deeply intrusive powers, thereby effectively threatening every good, peaceable, law abiding Canadian’s civil liberties.

Giving police and government ultimate powers is folly, don’t you think? We know better as a free people, don’t we?

There are better ways to catch criminals.

For instance: how about the federal government injecting much-needed financial resources into the RCMP for bringing them up-to-date with technology, with recruitment and training, wage increases and benefits and the like? Better trained, more motivated officers with top-of-the-line technology available (as well as tech-support) would be a heck of a good start.

What would be cut to add the dollars to the RCMP? That’s for Parliament to think about and work out.

Just like we are hoping they are going to think about Bill C-30 and work it out for the betterment of all Canadians.

We love our free society. Don’t let a goofy government run by a shrill control freak weaken its foundation any further.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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