Facecrime

From Billy Beck:

"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, Book 1, Chapter 5)

Do catch Paul Joseph Watson's integrations of technology, ethics and politics at the bleeding-edge of your consciousness. While we're in this groove (rut? -- ed.), don't miss Bill St. Clair's link to Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com.

My favorite Bitten-Snake-Handler Quote-O-Matic from that one:

"This regulation is outrageous. Consider me old-fashioned, but I believe you need to show some evidence of criminality before you are granted unfettered access to the private financial affairs of every individual and company that dares to conduct financial transactions overseas."

[hah!] [ohdear] That's one Mr. Peter Djinis, "former FinCEN executive assistant director for regulatory policy".

Right. That guy is finally outraged. I guess that he might at last understand the nature of things, now. "Criminality" is in what they call it, when it's handy to the culture of their power.

You're passing into history, Djinis, in the shadow of the machine that you helped to build to their purposes, and they'll get you, too.