1 June 16
“Cellophane! Mr Cellophane! It should have been my name, Mr Cellophane. Because you can look right through me, walk right by me, and never even know I’m there!”
“Mr Cellophane,” from the 2002 musical comedy, “Chicago,” a remake of the 1927 silent film by the same title. Most famous rendition was sung by Joel Grey
Political activity in 2016!
Yesterday in CA, Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, was booed and threatened with violent attack by an unruly crowd of animal-rights activists. They succeeded in preventing him from speaking, and a protective agent even had to shield him for several moments before he was escorted out of the area.
Such mob violence has characterized this election season like no other in recent memory!
Who have strong political opinions and wish to be involved in the electoral process at a higher level than just silently voting a secret ballot on election day, need to confront the fact that political activity, even in the USA, is far from “risk-free!”
Political activity, and free speech in general, are supposed to be protected in this civilization, but the current reality is that political violence, even deadly violence, lurks just under the surface at every political activity/event, particularly those that take place in public. Leftists have a long and unsavory reputation for political violence, dating back to 1917!
I predict we’ll see a lot of it between now and the general election (even afterward), particularly at party conventions this summer.
Far be it from me to discourage anyone from openly supporting/advocating for a candidate or political issue! My advice is to do what you believe you have to do (assuming you’ve got the spittle for it), but always confront risk-exposure honestly. Never discount real threats, just because you naively prefer not to acknowledge them. Be particularly apprehensive of “rallies” and political speeches. They are good places to stay away from!
What characterizes this age is that limits on data storage space have been all but eliminated! Terra-bytes of data, on each of us, are methodically, relentlessly collected and maintained in perpetuity, in both the public and private sectors. Nothing is ever erased, because “freeing disk space” is no longer necessary! Storage space for data is virtually infinite!
Accordingly, privacy, in all areas of our lives, is under unrelenting attack. Our names are far less important to “data gatherers” than are our numbers, habits, and endless “categories” into which we’ve all been arbitrarily inserted. “Secure communication” is mostly myth! Maintaining a “low profile,” to the degree it is even possible, has thus become a demanding art-form at which all Operators need to be expert!
My advice:
Don’t participate in “polls,” “surveys,” and “reviews.”
We have neighbors with an Hispanic surname. They are mercilessly hounded by telephone (sometimes even door-to-door) pollsters. By contrast, pollsters apparently find my surname far less interesting! When they do call, I say nothing and hang-up immediately, just as I do with any other telemarketing scam. Even though our home phone is unlisted, they occasionally call anyway, as they use random-number generators to get to unlisted households. In any event, my opinions are none of their business, and I never tell them to whom they’re talking!
E-mail is not “private” communication. It’s more like sending a postcard!
My e-mail mailbox has a powerful spam filter, but some always gets through. Spammers never get a response of any kind from me, even a request to take my address off their list. I review spam on the chance a legitimate message was snagged, but then it is all permanently deleted. Keep old and “sent” e-mails for a month or so, then delete them too. The vast majority don’t need to be preserved.
What goes in the garbage!
I recommend making it a habit to shred telephone bills, bank statements, credit-card statements, expired credit cards, expired documents, anything with your name and data on it. None of it should ever go out intact in the garbage.
Social media:
Participate in “social media” at your peril! Keep in mind that anything posted can never be “called back” It will be “out there” forever!
In conclusion:
Pay attention! Analyze everything honestly. Don’t be blind/naive, and don’t get “caught-up” in an emotional response that will expose you to harm, even when everyone around you is!
Remain ruthlessly sober and as “private” as you can. We call it the “Stealth Existence!”
“Mr Cellophane” was written as a cheerless lament. Today, it is not such a bad idea!
/John
