The post you are reporting:
David, you think you are a 'cheerful soul'! Read on. I find the threat of increased state intrusion in our lives a huge worry: identity cards; CCTV; recording and storing of mobile phone conversations and emails; collection and storage of DNA amongst them. Individually we can see strengths in the arguments for some of these but with Stella Rimington (ex head of MI5)reporting that we are becoming the most monitored nation in the world the prospect of any, or all, of them rings alarm bells for me.
I read an interesting book a few years ago which argues that the threat to individuality and to personal liberty is not going to come from an obvious tyrannical body but from a far more subtle influence of entertainment and celebrity. This would manifest as a world where everything is reduced to the status of entertainment and which the population would happily embrace. Politicians would use sound-bites rather than delivering weighty speeches for us to consider because we would no longer have the capacity, or desire, to do this. Tragedy in the world would be reported but then softened with the 'and finally' story whereby we remember the cat rescued by the fire brigade rather than the abuse of human beings that led the news programme. It has a familiar ring to it. The following is an extract from the book in which the author argues that we need to fear a Brave New World as suggested by Aldous Huxley rather than 1984 as suggested by George Orwell:
"What Huxley teaches us is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, people become an audience and their public business is a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility."
'Amusing Ourselves to Death' by Neil Postman. (1985)
Worth a read; unless you want to be cheered up (or should that be 'bury your head'?)!
Have a nice day!