Post Classifieds

Big Sister is Watching You

By Robert Patton

On September 16, 2011

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Janet Napolitano has been making the rounds of American universities to promote the idea of keeping your eyes and ears open for "suspicious" activity. The catchy title for this endeavor, possibly dreamed up by some well-paid Madison Avenue agency is "If You See Something, Say Something."

Napolitano, of course, is the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), the bureaucratic juggernaut that unites all government agencies authorized to use deadly force against citizens. Just kidding, of course, deadly force is just one of many methodologies in use by these agencies.

DHS has been hard at work expanding this program as well as its sister effort, the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative which focuses on expanding law enforcement efforts in the same area.

Napolitano does not explain just what suspicious activity is. She's not just talking about reporting of crime. We all know that we should notify the authorities if someone is actually violating the law in a serious way that goes well beyond exceeding the posted speed limit. What the DHS initiative targets are things called "behaviors and indicators."

Although these are undefined, the old standard applies: If you understand, no explanation is necessary; if you don't understand, no explanation is possible.

The nice thing is that suspecting the worst of everyone around you is the easiest thing in the world. To start with, if someone looks very different from you, isn't that suspicious? Some years ago, long before 9/11, I was flying in a puddle jumper from one nearby city to another. Across the aisle was a swarthy, bearded individual. His appearance was suspicious in itself. Shortly before take off, he began to pray and continued his prayers until the small plane was safely in the air. He repeated the prayer sequence for landing as well. Where were you, Janet Napolitano, when I needed you?

Well, Janet is there for you now, so it's time to keep eyes and ears open. The foreign student that shares space with you is not above suspicion. Nor is a fellow student whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower. Do any of your professors question the authority of the state? Janet wants to know.

And don't forget your parents. Kids are the best source of information about wayward parents. Disparaging comments about public officials overheard at the dinner table must be taken seriously.

We all know about freedom of the press, but didn't some Supreme Court justice say that press freedom ends where government authority begins. Just kidding again, it was about shouting fire in a crowded theater. But surely there is something suspicious about journalists who pen editorials that describe cabinet level officials in a disrespectful or sarcastic manner. Not, of course, that this writer would ever do such an unpatriotic thing.

For those who wish to study the matter more deeply, there is an excellent text by George Orwell titled 1984.