Secure Beneath The Watchful Eyes

[labgrade]

Is this for real? Photo's right up there with our own TIA logo)

"WATCHFUL EYES
A modern British Poster to make Orwell blush

Mark Vallen - AFC © Dec. 2002.

In October of 2002, Londoners woke up one morning to a startling sight. Posters that looked like props from a movie version of George Orwell's 1984 were plastered all along London's bus routes. At first many people thought it was a Guerilla Art campaign mounted by privacy and civil rights advocates. After all, England now has more security cameras aimed at it's population than any other country on earth, with 1.5 million Police cameras installed by authorities in urban environs.

(1.5 million!? Is this true? - lab )

Unfortunately the Posters were not a hoax, but part of an official anti-crime campaign mounted by the Metropolitan Police and London's mass transit provider, the CCTV. The Poster's message to the public is that they are under constant surveillance... and so they should feel "secure."

While it may be argued that the campaign was designed by the authorities to alleviate public fears of street crime, and that the state only had the public's interest at heart (wink, wink)... it's astounding that they'd make their point with an eerie graphic portraying an all seeing authority right out of Orwell's prophetic novel about a negative utopia. If nothing else this Poster is strongly reminiscent of a Soviet era Stalinist propaganda image, and if I'm not mistaken... they were the bad guys.

It's interesting to consider the mindset of those who designed and approved the Poster for distribution. Did they really not understand the implication of their message or does their work indicate something more insidious? Even more interesting is the public's apparent acceptance of the Poster. Has the yearning for freedom been thoroughly smothered by a longing for Big Brother's protection?"

Seriously. Is this real at all?

 

[Seeker]

YIKES!

Yep, that's Orwellian alright! Scary Orwellian!

 

[Hawkman]

The family and I spent a week in London on vacation a couple of years ago, and I was amazed at the level of surveillance on the streets. Cameras everywhere, all piped in to small police "offices" with banks of monitors and a couple of cops watching them.

Downright eerie.

 

[germanguns]

Holy crap. That's even scarier than out TIA office logo. It's all for the citizen though, right?

 

[Standing Wolf]

Rarely does a day pass when I fail to feel grateful to our forefathers for having rebelled against the English and founded a republic.

Frankly, I think we made a mistake in saving England from the Germans. I think the British subjects would have been happier under a Nazi régime.

 

[germanguns]

By the way, I have heard the 1.5 million number several times, and am almost certain it is true.

 

[Tamara]

That's even scarier than out TIA office logo.

I dunno, it's a tossup. While the Brit poster does have that 1930s-socialist-art-mixed-with-prop-from-a-movie-of-1984 vibe, the first time I saw the TIA logo, I thought it was a logo of some imaginary "black" agency dreamed up by some wearer of Reynold's Wrap yarmulkes. Tough call...

 

[labgrade]

Kind of a "funny" thing about that TIA logo is the direction the Earth's pointing.

One can see Asia, etc. which means all those rays (from the All Seeing Eye) are covering the Good OL' USoA ....

{insert Twightlight Zone theme song here}

 

[Deadman]

Kind of odd that the message is put forth as - secure beneath the watchful eyes, when the Mayor of London himself stated he felt safer on the streets of New York than London...

 

[Hal]

I thought it was a logo of some imaginary "black" agency dreamed up by some wearer of Reynold's Wrap yarmulkes.

No, I believe this would be closer to that.

The chilling thing is that if you search for the term "yardie" and substitue the word "jew", it's the same old same old. I said this a couple of years ago, and I'll say it again. That "Trident" symbol is destined to be the "swastika" of this century.

Those 1.5 million cameras are there to supposedly combat street crime. And the major street crime in the UK is???(yardies)

 

[m.i.sanders]

Man, that is one scary image, and an even scarier situation to KNOW that you're always being watched. Wonder when that's going to be tried here on such a large scale. I've heard that it's already been tried at some things like the Super Bowl.

Next question is wonder what caliber would be best to go camera picking?

 

[DAVID NANCARROW]

Just give it time-its already started in the land of used to be free under the guise of catching red light runners. If they can point it at the streets, they can also point it at your homes, and they do not have to be all that conspicous.

 

[Justin Moore]

That's just sick.

I recently visited some family in a small rural area,and what did I find perched atop the traffic lights there? F***in'CCTV cameras!
And, its hardly a 'high crime area'