Is Britain that much a police state already?

[Skybird]

I know only a little bit on British history, and spend just one long weekend on British soil, in preparation for a job engagement in the ME - and that is over twenty years ago. So, I am not familiar with the contemporary British reality. I know that it has more camera surveillance than any other state, and that poltical correctness punishes it excessively, and much more I do not know.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/europa/ueberwachungswahn-big-brother-und-die-kleinen-briten-12920687.html

This essay on how Britain has been turned into a de facto police state, and this with the permission of the people because this population never had experienced the state turning against the people like it happened in so many other states, surprised me a little bit, because it painted a much darker picture than I expected to see.

It is in German, and still, if you could read it and know Britain yourself or are British, I would like to hear some comments on it. Is the author misled, or is he shedding light on some grim truths? Is it really that hopeless already? If it is, then a great heritage of proud citizenship and civil courage has been flushed down the toilet.

Those able to understand the text (5 pages), let me know what you think. The newspaper is the FAZ, which could be described as the German equivalent to the Times, so it is not just some yellow press paper.

[STEED]

I think us Brits would like to read the article in English. :03:

[Catfish]

Pah, we germans take cameras, wiretapping, eavesdropping, surveillance and government control much too serious.

Why would anyone use that against its own people.
They are only there to serve, and help.
And protect against terrorists, of course, if the GCHQ finds the time.

[AndyJWest]

Is Britain a police state? No - and facile comparisons like this do nothing except underplay the repressiveness of real police states. As for the cameras, a significant proportion are broken (or fake), and there is hardly anyone watching the output of the remainder. They are mostly for show, as a cheap way for local councils to pretend that they are dealing with low-level crime. vandalism etc, without actually spending real money. The only cameras that actually do anything of significance are the road traffic ones - and that is because they can be largely automated.

[Oberon]

Nope, next question.

[Egan]

I know that it has more camera surveillance than any other state,

More than any other? Perhaps. More cameras that don't actually work than any other? Definitely.


and that poltical correctness punishes it excessively, and much more I do not know.

Meh, depends who you believe. If you read the Mail where many of the readership seem to have a chip on their shoulders about no longer having a socially accepted mandate to be racist, sexist homophobes without someone pulling them up for it then maybe.

The only time I ever seem to encounter 'political correctness' is when i see one of the red tops getting upset about something they either blew up out of all proportion or flat out invented.

[Skybird]

I think us Brits would like to read the article in English. :03:
I have not used a translation bot not for no reason. And for manual translation it is a bit too long. And some people speak more than just one language, so there is a chance...

The essay gives many examples, also refers to British sources. Both made me stop grinning. That things in Europe are sliding at that direction, is clear, I have said that myself often enough. Just that it is that far already, left me a bit listless. On the other hand, maybe I should not have been suprised, when considering the role the GCHQ is playing.

I wonder if maybe Bin Laden knew what developments in the West he would serve as a catalyst for to speed them up.

[mapuc]

Sometimes you have to take a step outside your own house to see

Markus

[Oberon]

I've heard Somaliland is nice this time of year. :yep:

[Skybird]

Somaliland? Lets have a look at the map with the weather forecast.

http://rsf.org/index2014/data/carte2014_en.png

http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

Needless to say that you can influence and manipulate, even gag the press by means that still would make the place look white on that map. Character assassination, public
campaigns, corruption and reward-and-penalty, opinion education and so on are the weapons in that arsenal. I doubt that any of the places in Europe painted white indeed
deserves to be painted in white. Manipulative press that is not recognised by the reader to be manipulative, nevertheless is manipulative.

[Oberon]

http://global3.memecdn.com/Its-better-in-Somalia_c_5382.jpg

[HunterICX]

^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSBoO4GzHaI

there

[dsawan]

Big brother is everywhere!:D

[August]

I think technology is what drives this trend more than anything else.

But Oberon, Americans have hated all of those things for over 2 centuries and we've managed to avoid Somaliland thus far.

[Tribesman]

Is Britain that much a police state already?
No, not really.

The newspaper is the FAZ, which could be described as the German equivalent to the Times, so it is not just some yellow press paper.
The Times is just The Sun with big words and no tits, perhaps you should choose another publication to compare the Frankfurter with.

[Oberon]

But Oberon, Americans have hated all of those things for over 2 centuries and we've managed to avoid Somaliland thus far.

Indeed, and America is the worse for it according to quite a few people in America.

[August]

Indeed, and America is the worse for it according to quite a few people in America.

Their problem is that they never actually say what is worse. We ain't doing so bad compared to the rest of the world. Life may not be perfect here but i'd say it could be an awful lot more worse than it could be better.

[Stealhead]

Indeed, and America is the worse for it according to quite a few people in America.
Based on my experience having been stationed in Germany and visited most all of Western Europe and some of Eastern Europe I can easily say that some western European states are much deeper into the police state status.

I felt most watched in Luxemburg City in fact I left most rapidly one night of course this was after throwing a beer bottle at one of their cameras and nailing it despite my state of heavy inebriation. I bet they are still looking for me.

That is what I find do funny about Edward Snowden he fled to the states that are far more oppressive towards their own citizens.

I also find it funny how people do not like the idea of being watched yet many of these people carry electronic devices that they know allow their paths to be followed if someone so desired.

People say that they do not like being controlled but the reality is humans need authority no one has true freedom to do what they desire at any time.

[Oberon]

I think that a gradual move towards greater surveillance of our existence is, quite honestly, inevitable. As technology progresses, bigger mice will be created thus necessitating bigger mouse traps. It started with finger-printing and rolled on from there.
Is there a risk that this could be used against the general public? Absolutely, there's no question about it, but equally it can also be used to save the general public from harm.

It's like a knife, on its own it's pretty harmless, put it in the hands of a human being and it's either a tool for making dinner or a murder weapon.

[Penguin]

What I don't understand about the Brits is that they find the idea of a national ID or a central registration abhorrent, but are ok with cams watching every move.
Here it seems like the opposite - ID cool, cams bad.

[Stealhead]

If you think about it the idea of a "national ID" feels a lot less invasive than lots of cameras. Of the thing with the cameras is in most cases no one is really sitting and watching them live (with some exceptions).

And they really do not stop people.I have seen plenty of videos of people mugging someone in London they seem not to care that a camera is watching them and they know that they have a pretty good chance of getting away before the law shows up.


Of IDs really do not stop anything.If someone really has a need to forge a document they will. Here in the US they got a hard on for the ID thing after 9/11 because those guys just illegally aquired legit IDs and then simply did not follow the legal requirements.

So they get the stupid idea to have the national IDs.Before that many states became much stricter when it came to getting a license or to renew one.Of course they fail to realize that a determined terrorist or drug dealer or kid that wants to buy booze will simply find some way to acquire a fraudulent ID anything can be faked even if it uses electronic technology.

[Penguin]

If you think about it the idea of a "national ID" feels a lot less invasive than lots of cameras. Of the thing with the cameras is in most cases no one is really sitting and watching them live (with some exceptions).

And they really do not stop people.I have seen plenty of videos of people mugging someone in London they seem not to care that a camera is watching them and they know that they have a pretty good chance of getting away before the law shows up.


Of IDs really do not stop anything.If someone really has a need to forge a document they will. Here in the US they got a hard on for the ID thing after 9/11 because those guys just illegally aquired legit IDs and then simply did not follow the legal requirements.

So they get the stupid idea to have the national IDs.Before that many states became much stricter when it came to getting a license or to renew one.Of course they fail to realize that a determined terrorist or drug dealer or kid that wants to buy booze will simply find some way to acquire a fraudulent ID anything can be faked even if it uses electronic technology.

Well I can tell you that a compulsive ID can be pretty much invasive - especially when we talk about stop an frisk policy and you're on the short end of the stick . Espeically interesting when you have to explain the German law to the cops that we are required to have an ID but not to carry it - while Officer Arseclown is eager to use his billy club on a smartass... :D Hey, in the few timnes I've been to America I have noticed that US perosns in charge (cops, bouncers, vendors) are much more cool with me not carrying my passport as a stinking foreigner (which I am required to do so by Us law), than German cops.

I agree with you about the false sense of security cams give, we have the same trend here. More cams - less security personnel on the street. However nobody who got their head kicked in or was raped was gladly telling afterwards: "Hey, at least they got the perps mug on vid!"...
It seems to be all about short-term financial savings - a beat cop on patrol just costs more than a goggled-eyed nerd who oversees 30 monitors.

There is one secret about criminals which too many people do not consider: A perp doesn't think about the consequences when they commit their crime. Repercussions don't count (that's why capital pounisment is bs, but that's another topic)- a human in the way who says "Stop!" and acts accordingly is a different story.

[Penguin]

No, not really.


The Times is just The Sun with big words and no tits, perhaps you should choose another publication to compare the Frankfurter with.

nope, wise people have done this comparision: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2053522&postcount=5 :D maybe the FAZ has a lil more focus on cultural things - though it was dismissed as "they're all Commie papers!" :03:

[Tribesman]

nope, wise people have done this comparision: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2053522&postcount=5 :D maybe the FAZ has a lil more focus on cultural things - though it was dismissed as "they're all Commie papers!" :03:
You need to switch #3&4 to pair with #1 so it matches ownership.

[STEED]

I say yes but not in the cover story that we all know. :03:

I agree about CCTV we have it every where but 80% are the old analogue poor picture system not much help to anyone. HDCCTV costs a lot more money and I hardly think your see them in town centers and car parks.

[Betonov]

Here's what I'll do.

When I'll stay in London this year, I'll be watchful of my surroundings and then compare how safe I feel compared to my country.

If I feel safer in regards of feeling safe from the law, the entire article is horse manure since police presence here is sitting nearby a cop on break in a pub and CCTV is something only banks have.

[Skybird]

It'S unfortunate that the essay is not available in English and thus this thread necessarily remains to be shallow, actually the essay is much more subtle and does not target the surveillance state only that is being excused with 2001 and 2005, but a climate of generally risen fear and over-caution that indicates a severe mentality change. As the author put it: the Brits are the new Prussians of Europe, obedient and servile towards a state that increasingly bosses them around on behalf or propagating the better moral behaviour, and some of the exmaple he gives, are really pretty much absurd. This, he says, is increasingly supressing the classic heritage of Britian being a home of tight-lipped citizens defending their civil liberties and not being intimidated that easily at all. He referred to a recent article in the Spectator that apparently published an essay arguing in this general tone.

What I think, not just about Britain but about the EU in general, is this. There is this old and quitre amsuing action mmovie with Sylvester Stallone, "Deomolition man". It depicts a future in which people are infantile idiots moving around grinning all day and babbling super-soft-soft empty phrases and greetings designed to illustrate how wellmeaning and joyful everybody is. That the police'S ability to deal with criminal thugs got completely castrated by this imbecility, is part of what makes this movie so funny. At the core of this new, super-healthy society is a dictator that rules by pretending to just mean it well, the suppression is dressed in the clothes of moral behavior, better food rules and health education and again aims at castrating any aggressive drive in people. With a population of infantile early imbeciles, you do not need physical violence and torture, police and arrest as tools to secure your power - castrating the people between their ears and turning them into grinning idiots works so much better.

Funny movie, btw, some of the humorous points still make me laugh, especially Sly's way to find toilet paper in a world that does not know toilet paper anymore. :)

"Sanfte Grüße!" :yeah:

[Tango589]

What I don't understand about the Brits is that they find the idea of a national ID or a central registration abhorrent, but are ok with cams watching every move.
Here it seems like the opposite - ID cool, cams bad.
I don't think it ws the general idea of an ID card that was the problem, most people carry driving licenses with photo, DOB, address on anyway. What was the problem was the Govt wanted us to stump up well over £100 to carry the damn thing. If the Govt wanted us to have it, the Govt can pay for it!

[Skybird]

I tried to find that article in the Spectator, but not knowing author and titkle, that was in vein, but I found this article, which is loosely linked to the matter, and it is good:

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/edwest/2014/05/political-correctness-gone-mad-and-madder-and-even-madder/

This is also what the German FAZ article touches upon. The Spectator at the end argues "It’s just that in Britain and America the liberal-Left has had a moral monopoly for so many years that this has pushed it to some extreme positions, encouraged intolerance of other opinions, and created a large moral gulf between the rulers and the ruled."

This is true in Germany as well, though due to slightly different mechanisms. In the late 60s, there were the student riots over here that Germans today just summarize under a single label, calling it all "die Achtundsechziger", or "68er". Protests against America, Vietnam, at the same time celebrating mass murder committed in the name of communist regimes, then the rise of left terrorism in Germany, a general revolt against the petrified state structures, and time and again propagating communism over market economy and democracy.Unfortunately in germany this scene was allowed to seize the most influential field of inner poltics there is: the educaiton sector. Year for year and decade for decade, the educational structures (public schools, universities, and their pltical adminstration) were left under control of the 68er generation, and that allowed them to breed the generation that would follow them once they themselves would leave the job scene due to age. Today, we have the seocnd and third generaiton of 68er in place, andf they arranged themselves nicely with the growing trend in ALL poltical parties towards socialst concepts, which is unavoidably like I have often argued before, because politicians make career by promising to plunder the rich and share the loot with the mass, and the mass demands form politicians to plunder the rich and share the loot with the masses. And so, traditional politics and far-left leaning thinking in the 68er tradition came together.

That's why poltical correctness is striking terribly heavy today in German schools and universities, also this terrible joke of genderist pseudo-science and ultra-radical feminism. If you have the bug sitting in the very centre of your education industry, then it breeds more and more bugs like itself, of course.

And it shows.

It's like with a tick. The more blood it sucks, the more germ-infested poison it produces and pumps it into its victim.

[Oberon]

You are fined five credits for a breach of the verbal morality statue.

[Betonov]

You are fined five credits for a breach of the verbal morality statue.

I'm from the Balkans, I'd go bankrupt before I exited the airport :oops:

[Oberon]

I'm from the Balkans, I'd go bankrupt before I exited the airport :oops:

All things considered, there would be no national debt. :hmmm:

[Tango589]

All things considered, there would be no national debt. :hmmm:
True, but personal debt would be astronomical!

[Skybird]

You are fined five credits for a breach of the verbal morality statue.
You get locked in jail over ther weekend and get entered into the national DNA register if for self protection you carry a small bottle of CS gas, like it is commonly used by women over here, to defend themselves ion case of rapist atattcks. Example taken from the article. The young women needed a lawyer, that severe her offence was taken - carrying a bottle of gas for self-protection.

Article also says that the surveillance apparatus is increasingly used to sanction non-conformal behaviour, or rightly or wrongly so-called anti-social behaviour. The barriers beyond which police action is being triggered, get constantly lowered and lowered more.

Article also refers to the extreme naive carelessness by which British people seem to accept that all their personal health files are about to be collected in one central national database, not even fully anonymous, and open for access by anybody who files a request with a specific demand - a very big bowing before the pharmaceutical and the insurance lobbies, I read on another opportunity about that. Critics of this got openly stigmatized, even by the Times, article says.

But why worry if you have nothing to hide? :88) And why worry the loss of freedom if you are like a dog that has no idea of what freedom is anyway?

You will see the day when they suggest that babies get tattoed a barcode and get chipped, and non-conformal thinking earns you a vacancy stay in a recreational re-education facility. All in your best and the community's best interest, of course. The state only means it well with you folks.

We could also have drugs in the pipe's drinking water suppressing hyperactive thinking and unwanted originality that could lead to non-conformal aggressiveness. Aggression leads to people getting hurt, so doing so sounds only reasonable if the state sets the standards and controls it, right? Where there is no aggression, there is no initiative-taking, no questioning, no creativity, and what remains is public peacefulness and national safety gains. Sounds all positive to me. :salute:

Let's have moral guardians in your voting cabin with you as well. You want to vote, but somebody has to tell you what is the orally right choice to vote for, right? Because by then you have become unable to decide that question by yourself. Can anyone seriousl,y say something against a mortal code serving the public interest and helping to make the country a better living place? I don't think so, moral behaviour is good.

Or are you no good man, Oberon? :hmmm:

[Oberon]

And tell me exactly this, what are you doing to prevent this? Actively?

Do you protest at the Reichstag at the weekend? Do you not pay your taxes? Do you vandalise state property with anti-establishment graffiti?

Or do you post on GT? :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6942/popcorncowtx0.gif

[Oberon]

Chill Winston, I'll stop here I think, there'll be another one along in a minute I'm sure.

http://media.giphy.com/media/cUNsXlXK7HMUo/giphy.gif

http://media.giphy.com/media/JGF7ctowtLGak/giphy.gif

[STEED]

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6942/popcorncowtx0.gif

Eating popcorn can give you mad cow syndrome...too late. :har:

[Garion]

You are fined five credits for a breach of the verbal morality statue.

Do yoo know how to use the Three Sea Shells? :arrgh!:

On a more serious note. I hate the cameras with a vengeance, everywhere I look in Haddington (my local town) a camera is pointing at me. I wonder if I could charge the company running them modelling fees....:woot:

Haddington is and always has been a low crime area, most of which happens after dark in somebodies house or down a vennel (translation: close, narrow enclosed passageway) where the cameras don't go.:arrgh!:

Cheers

Gary

[AndyJWest]

"drugs in the pipe's drinking water suppressing hyperactive thinking and unwanted originality that could lead to non-conformal aggressiveness"? Skybird, your tinfoil hat is showing.

[HunterICX]

And tell me exactly this, what are you doing to prevent this? Actively?

Do you protest at the Reichstag at the weekend? Do you not pay your taxes? Do you vandalise state property with anti-establishment graffiti?

Or do you post on GT? :hmmm:

Usually wasting our bloody time posting a wall of text where he shows hyprocicy, contradiction, missinformation and just biased blatant bullcrap and to make it worse on a good day he posts that scheisse in German and continues quoting the same crap over and over againt trying to prove everyone wrong without looking once in the mirror.

Ignore lists works like magic, one swift sweep
http://www.failure.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/4387467_460s.jpg

[Catfish]

"drugs in the pipe's drinking water suppressing hyperactive thinking and unwanted originality that could lead to non-conformal aggressiveness"? Skybird, your tinfoil hat is showing.

I do not care about water, but what about drugs in wiskey ?! :hmm2:

[Oberon]

Usually wasting our bloody time posting a wall of text where he shows hyprocicy, contradiction, missinformation and just biased blatant bullcrap and to make it worse on a good day he posts that scheisse in German and continues quoting the same crap over and over againt trying to prove everyone wrong without looking once in the mirror.

Ignore lists works like magic, one swift sweep
http://www.failure.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/4387467_460s.jpg

Once upon a time I would have been happy to debate for hours on end about the various conspiracies of the world and the police state and what really constitutes one...but over the years I've found my patience growing thinner, and with enough rubbish to deal with in real life I really don't need my online life to become cluttered with stress and irritation too...so, as much as I hate ignore lists...I fear that you are correct.

[AndyJWest]

I do not care about water, but what about drugs in wiskey ?! :hmm2:

They must definitely be putting something in it. The last time I had the stuff the world went all blurry and I kept falling over.

[Skybird]

And tell me exactly this, what are you doing to prevent this? Actively?

Do you protest at the Reichstag at the weekend? Do you not pay your taxes? Do you vandalise state property with anti-establishment graffiti?

Or do you post on GT? :hmmm:
What I do, you ask?

I live. By my own rules.

I try try to avoid foul compromises, I try to live and decide my everyday life's decisions in a way that any time I get asked I could take it and show it to somebody and tell him: "this is it, there is nothing I must regret in it or excuse myself for", I do not take or accept what is not mine, and I refuse others the right to laid claim for me and demand from me as if I were born as their property. That way, I have a clean conscience, I am in congruence with my reason and my morals, and I have the understanding and love of my parents and that of one or two other living people that are still left from my former "friendships".

The Golden Rule - its called that not for no reason.

You now think that is not much. But it is. It is an example set, that at any time I could show to somebody who is asking me, without me needing to feel sorry for it, needing to justify myself for or excuse myself for, and if everybody would have these basic golden rules as his guidelines, we would have a much better, less crowded and more peaceful world out there, I tell you.

And sticking to these rules in a society that does not recognise them, does cost you, like it has costed me. You're an outsider. Isolation is the better thing that could happen to you - open hostility and defamation is more common.

You seem to think that a state can be reformed, repaired, that a misled rotten culture can be healed, if only paying for it, going to elections and joining demonstrations for the right cause, engaging oneself according to the rules of that rotten thing, trying to reform it from the inside. I don't think so. You cannot heal or repair these things from the outside or inside: they do it all the time - and look at the mess they increase every single day.

All you can do is plot your course through this troubled sea, and accept the responsibility for your fate coming from your decisions.

I must not fulfill anyone's expectations whom I owe nothing, since it is his expectations, but not mine. I must not contribute to others' causes that I refuse to make my causes. I must not build and erect and form and construct, if I do not want that, but prefer to live differently. However, what is advisable for me - any anyone else - is to live in way that one is at peace with one's own conscience and morals, reason and thought. Of course, others will react to that, and their reaction is the price - or reward - you have to live with. But why the heck should you violate your own moral and rape your own conscience just because somebody else's expectations and demands? You either must be extremely servile or extremely opportunistic to do so, in both cases you have neither honesty nor class and integrity.

I am a realist, Oberon - I know damn well and even without your hinting that I will not manage to change the world. I can only walk at the direction I have found to be promising the best chances for a way through this life - whether it is stony or not, whether they will throw eggs after me or applaud, whether I will need to travel all alone or others will follow, cannot be my concern - it's my life, not theirs. I suffer or enjoy my consequences like they will inevitably suffer or enjoy their consequences, but I have no claim to make for them, and they have no claim to make for me.

If I can do it this way and still enjoy it a bit and have some fun that is not at the cost of others, the better!

But still I wonder why others do the way they do, even more so when considering that they may have more at stake than I have: children. You see, I know since some time now that I am ill and that time is more limited a thing than maybe one thinks. I have no own children. I could very well shut the door behind me, enjoy myself for the remaining time and think "to hell with all the world." But that is not me. Because first, I am a head monster, I always want to know and understand, a big flaw of mine, I know. This is where my anger comes from. And second, when I see children and juveniles, their innocence and sky-rocketing ambitions and expectations for life, with life still meaning magic, and confusion making them to dare strange things - but then me realising what is coming down on them like a big iron hammer falling onto the anvil, then I cannot escape to feel sad for them - this is where my sadness comes from. Buddhists would say that any life given birth to, means to create suffering by exposing this life to the inevitable turning of the wheel of life, moving that creature towards pain, loss and suffering, age and death. Well, I know that all that is true - but I also learned that one can learn to come to terms with that. I wonder why so many people reject to do that, but instead fall for the traps of alleged shortcuts, selfishness, credulousness or unscrupulousness. I fear it is an evolutinary heritage, and thus genetic. And that means I am pessimistic that man will ever change substantially while he still has time. And that is where my disillusionment comes from.

[Skybird]

But tell me, Oberon - what exactly had your question and your earlier reference to Somaliland to do with the FAZ's or Specator's essays? Didn't I make it sufficiently clear that I was interested in getting feedback from British people about their thoughts about the author's perceptions, and whether they would agree or disagree?

:hmmm:

[Skybird]

Do yoo know how to use the Three Sea Shells? :arrgh!:

On a more serious note. I hate the cameras with a vengeance, everywhere I look in Haddington (my local town) a camera is pointing at me. I wonder if I could charge the company running them modelling fees....:woot:

Haddington is and always has been a low crime area, most of which happens after dark in somebodies house or down a vennel (translation: close, narrow enclosed passageway) where the cameras don't go.:arrgh!:

Cheers

Gary

Do you also have those loudspeakers the essay mentions that call offenders to order that are guilty of "non-conformal" or "anti-social" behavior? I think a police system where surveillance is used to lecture people on not spitting on the pavement or that they missed that waste bin, is... well... Would make me wonder whether the state will lecture me next on how to bind my cravat correctly (good that I do not have a single one...) or that I should not pick my nose.

All in the name of security, of course. We do not want another London attack happen.

For the defenders of total surveillance and state monitoring, nothing better than a terrorist strike could happen.

[Garion]

No, no loudspeakers yet, I think they would cause more hassle than they are worth.

The last thing yoo want to do to a bunch of drunken Scots on a weekend is to shout at them. Coz they may, just may..... SHOUT BACK!!!! with bits of street furniture. :arrgh!:

Or even worse.... lift their kilts up :o

Cheers

Gary

[Skybird]

We live in post-democratic and increasingly Dickian times (refering to Philip K. Dick). It seems he has forseen so many details of our modern present - and I do not mean the technology, but political control, brainwashing and media potential.