I'm currently in the plurality of this week's Slashdot poll: "When I see gov't CCTV cameras, I think:" , for which I chose "OK, then watch this!"
Because, y'know, it's always been fun to engage in entirely spurious highly suspicious behavior when one is being watched by The Man.
Except...
That works in situations where The Man is bound to obey the laws, and can't mess with you unless you've actually done something wrong.
In Clinton-Bush-Obama's America? Possession of blinky lights is a crime, if someone who learned all about bombs from Hollywood decides that, even if your blinky-lights thing isn't an actual bomb, then it's certainly a hoax bomb. Skulking past a security camera pretending to have something to hide may not technically be illegal, but may get you a dynamic visit from the authorities, which can easily result in you and your dog being shot before there's a chance to negotiate the charges down from "conspiracy to do something evil, and we'll figure it out later" to "wasting police time."
And, of course, with all the laws we have, if The Man is out to get you, it's darn near certain you're violating a great variety of laws. And, e.g., posting cryptic gibberish on Facebook to annoy The Man... might just annoy The Man.
The Village may have had arcane and mutable rules, but it least it had some sort of rules that could be figured out and were binding on the rulers.
(Yes, we too have rules that are binding on what we think of as the rulers. Those rules are well hidden, but if you doubt their existence, then riddle me this: why, after all these changes of President and Legislature, is the Cuba trade embargo still in effect? For that matter: why do the Republicans never stand up to their permanent enemies in the entertainment business, even when they clearly have the upper hand? Pass the tinfoil.)
Now, where'd I leave that plutonium? Surf's up, space ponies!
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