Close Down Vs

Close Down Vs. Shut Out

Closing down infrastructure for political purposes is nothing new. Banks are closed to arrest bank runs. Streets are closed to kettle protesters for arrest. Digital media are closed to arrest dissident discussion. Heinous as corporate/government assaults on freedom are, indiscriminately applied strictures, though cruel, are fair - to maintain a veneer of democracy on draconian policy. The problem is mass arrest sweeps up innocents along with perpetrators, giving rise to public outrage and organized resistance. 

Even in time of war, targeting an individual for assassination is a violation of law. Somehow mass murder is more democratic than a hit. Better to take out a whole wedding party so collateral casualties excuse assassination as a war op. It is still “surgical” because they got the guy, without laying an entire country to waste, as in 1945 Germany. If family and friends are killed too – tough. He should have thought of that before getting on the terrorist watch list. That may fly in remote resource-rich countries inhabited by darker-skinned peoples, but such heavy-handed tactics applied domestically may be destabilizing. Albeit with notable exceptions - Move in Pennsylvania, Dravidians in Texas – in general, authority figurines are constrained from blitzkrieg tactics against their fellow citizens by various antiquated constitutional protections. Domestic massacres of civilians undermine international respect for American values of civil and human rights. Pursuant legal challenges are expensive and embarrassingly revealing. Crowds of bereaved family members and honest witnesses are a public relations nightmare.

Whereas once it was easier to kill a million people than control them, in the 21st century it is far easier to control a million people than to kill them. That doesn’t mean all at once. Novel tech enables tyrants to single out individuals for special treatment. When PM Turdeau ordered online payment platforms to close accounts of protest supporters, even for so little as a $50 online donation for food and fuel, payment services were eager to comply as they are more fearful of governors’ than customers’ wrath. Throwing the switch against a particular citizen for political differences, without due process, or commission of a crime is an exercise in raw power, not any kind of lawful government of, by and for the people. 

Aside from cash on hand, citizens whose accounts are closed are effectively shut out of daily economic and social activity, ostracized without being banished, free to come and go, but unable to make a licit transaction; free to speak, but unable to connect. Not only is individual de-financialization chilling in that it seizes control over one’s life, but by singling out an individual for punishment mass revulsion is averted. No one cares about the plight of a single victim. You get shut out, you are on your own. There is no organized resistance on behalf of solitary victims silently invalidated as persons: account closed, voice muted, access denied. Haven’t seen or heard from Frank in a while. Oh! His freedom pass was revoked for being Earnest. 

Reverend Doktor C. Sarian

Mid Coast Sub Church of Paranoia

Church of the SubGenius

042822