I’m still here onboard the Ocean Evolution. It’s a slow Sunday at the dock. Usually Sundays are what we call “Safety Sunday”. We try to take it easy and do a lot of safety related stuff (more than usual).
We thought we were going offshore today to do some testing, so we did all our drills yesterday after the usual Saturday steak BBQ. Today I haven’t done much but a little bit of ballasting for some crane ops, a little bit of paperwork and standing gangway watch.
That whole gangway watch thing is new since 9-11. We’re supposed to be on the lookout for terrorists who instead of just shooting us with an RPG from the dock, want to try their luck to sneak aboard and somehow attack a ship full of some fairly tough men (these guys don’t sit behind a desk all day). We also have a lot of things that could be quite dangerous if we want them to be. A match for any bunch of losers with box cutters!
Personally, I think the whole ‘be afraid, be very very afraid” of the terrorist thing is WAY overblown. I have zero fear of any terrorist. What I do fear is the fact that our government has used that fear to destroy our way of life. They’ve done it a hell of a lot more effectively than any terrorist could imagine in their wildest dreams!
As an example, I was reading an article today on how many people in the US don’t yet have “REAL ID” (internal passports, just like the old USSR and NAZI Germany used to have- great examples we’ve decided to follow). I have no idea how the “added security” these new IDs will help us in the USA. After all, this country’s government has one purpose and one purpose ONLY.
That SOLE purpose is: to protect the rights and freedoms we already have as human beings!
Will someone, anyone, please tell me exactly how forcing us to “show your papers please” anytime we want to travel (which we’re constitutionally guaranteed to be able to do without any kind of government interference) is going to help anything?
The ONLY thing it will do, is to continue to turn us into a bunch of zombies, dependent on our government masters to protect us from everything in the world (including ourselves). We’ve already gone way too far down that road to serfdom.
I’ll post this quote from Ben Franklin again here. It’s just as true now as when he (supposedly) said it back when we were fighting for our freedom from the British.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
We need to wake the hell up and start fighting for it again NOW, before it’s too late. We will never have a safe society and I- for one- don’t want one. I want a FREE society. I want to be able to live my live, make my own choices and have the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. I am sick and tired of the nanny state being forced upon us all. We’re NOT all babies here. We’re entitled to live as fully functioning adults until and unless we prove we’re (individually) incapable of that.
I don’t know how many of you may support the nanny state we’re living in now, but if you do I’d like to hear your reasons. Why would anyone think we should choose to live in a “safe” society (which is unattainable) to living in a free society (which is also probably not 100% possible, but I’m sure it’s a lot easier to achieve and a lot better for a lot more people).
Let’s have a real discussion here. 🙂
PS- we used to be able to discuss interesting subjects like this in the local bars until the MAD mothers put a stop to that! Most of the bars have closed and no one talks anymore about anything but sports (men) and babies (women).
PSS- Just to be 100% clear- this blog is mine. Everything I post here is something I think is useful, relevant, interesting (to me and hopefully to others). It is never, in any way, related to any company or person I work for. My comments are based on my interpretations of my research and I don’t mean for them to reflect on anyone else. I don’t think what a person does on their own time should be anybody’s business at work, but apparently way too many businesses think they own you 24/7 and they do think it’s their business. I refuse to shut up, but again, just to make it clear. None of what I say here has anything to do with anybody but me. No company or boss has ever agreed with me on anything! 😉
Capt Jills Journeys 
Many other countries (including democratic ones) issue their citizens national ID cards and being that the USA doesn’t have such system it’s problematic in the age of modern security issues.
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The issue is that the US is unique in the world. We are the ONLY country, ever, to base our reason to be on the fact that the government is the servant of the individual and not the other way around.
We have actually stated that our people DO have the right to travel freely. Yet, we are still going to allow our government to force this REAL ID upon us. It’s a real shame that we’ve sunk so low.
The REAL ID has nothing to do with traveling outside the USA. It’s basically an internal passport, just like the NAZIs used to have. For that reason alone, it should be objected to.
I really don’t understand the reasoning behind support for the identification, tracking and control of the population. Especially in the US, but even in the other countries around the world.
There is no such thing as perfect safety and/or security. Do people really want to go where that path will lead? I think once they understand the evils that will bring, they won’t like it much. But then it will be too late.
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I understand your sentiments but due to security concerns I don’t see another viable solution.
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The real point was that there is no such thing in this world as security. So why the heck are we throwing away all of our freedoms in the search for something completely unattainable?
The solution is to STOP all the curtailments of our freedoms and the so called security issues will disappear.
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Respectfully I disagree with you. Although 100% is unattainable, the measures in place make things more secure than if you completely take them away as you are suggesting.
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Well, well Jill. I really like this post…I think I could see the steam coming out of your ears (old cartoon)…it went from a relaxing Sunday to BEWARE!! Having poked a little fun at you, I agree with what you are saying…we are no longer free. We are slaves to the press and the idiot-in-office, and gossip (esp. un’social media’), and fill-in-the-blank work/jobs instead of interaction and thinking, we are slaves to others’ paranoia and ignorance. There IS no such thing as safety – not completely…living in a bubble has not made us safer, it’s made us crazy.
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Ha! I’m glad you liked it KC. That one’s not even getting me started. Sometimes I really do feel like the steam’s coming out of my ears. I just don’t understand people. Their attitudes just floor me. What really gets me going is the fact that even tho I live in a country that’s founded on individual liberty. The ONLY one ever, in the entire world. Who’s ONLY legitimate function is to protect the rights we all already had as being human beings. Has turned into a place where I have to live under the so-called authority Ithere IS no such authority in reality) of the majority. Or whoever has the most money/power to make the “rules”. I absolutely HATE that!
We should ALL be able to live OUR lives the best way WE choose. As long as we’re not hurting anyone else, no one else should have a damn thing to say about it. And I don’t mean things like emotional harm either. I mean OBJECTIVE harm, where anybody can see the results. You can’t make LAWS about subjective harms, otherwise how in the heck can you ever figure out what really happened? Everybody will have a different subjective feeling about whatever the claim was. Yet, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing here. Totally stupid IMO.
You’re right. We’ve all gone crazy! (except for those few of us who get labeled as nut-jobs). 😉
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