Comment on New Government Inititative

Its 1984, or so the government wishes. Their new “Orwellian” initiative to uncover extremism in Universities by monitoring student’s internet activity is just another screw in the coffin containing our freedom of thought. It seems to me that they have found a perfect excuse to intrude even further into our already invigilated lives, using the threat of terrorism as the scapegoat. Yes we all know that university provides an environment which has the potential to breed extremism, but why should we all have to suffer for the acts of a few? It’s simply outrageous. In a country which has been tarred with the surveillance brush, (now deemed the “surveillance society”), it is becoming ever more difficult to lead your life without Big Brother peering over your shoulder. Let’s just say for example, I need to find out how a bomb is made for a Physics project. Does this automatically make me a terrorist, or am I just exercising the natural human right of inquisition? Am I wrong in thinking that at Universities around the country in the last few years, individuals have been arrested under suspicion of extremism?, and moreover they were discovered without having to monitor ALL students. That strategy seemed to work, why the sudden need for change?.

The worst part is that you can understand the Government’s simplistic, yet subtly intrusive strategy. More monitoring, less terrorism. That’s the long and short of it. But when does this quest for the preservation of human kind stop?. How far are they willing to delve into people’s privacy for the cause of the “greater good”? I can already see this surveillance situation getting out of hand, and no doubt the government will pull out the extremism card when challenged on it. Soon I won’t be able to leave my house without a government official escorting me to do my mid week shop at Tesco!!. The sad fact of today’s society is that the truth has become a rare commodity. Banking systems collapsed due to devious, greed mongering bankers, and it seems that the true ulterior motive behind the new government initiative is cloaked by the hot topic of the modern day, terrorism. And I for one don’t see that changing anytime soon.