[Paddlewise] Big Brother in National Parks

It's 1984 all over again; talk about deja vu. The US National Park Service
plans to install more cams in the National Parks to try to get a handle on
vandalism. I realize that a lot of us can just wish 'em good luck wiring up
the places we paddle to but I have some concerns about the tendency to
camera-up everything and then just sit back and write us citations.

Interestingly enough I just finished a book that describes exactly how the
Nazi Party (which was not "socialist" in the same way the Democratic
Republic of North Korea is not "democratic") managed to take over Germany in
the 1930s. One line in the book caught my eye: "If you are not doing
anything wrong then you have nothing to be afraid of." This line was used to
justify the high-handed way the SD (also known as the "black shirts") dealt
with the citizenry of the Reich. As it turned out, of course, you had a
great deal to worry about even if you weren't doing anything wrong. This,
ironically, included the SD,

At any rate, I'm somewhat ambivalent about this issue. There are people who
deserve - and need - to be watched closely. I don't think they are paddlers,
though, and it's unlikely they'll be putting these anywhere Paddlewisers go.
Is this where our civilization is headed? I'd feel better about it if I
hadn't read stories about the UK's experience with these devices; which
doesn't seem to have solved many crimes (although they learned - after the
fact - who set off the bombs a few years back).

Caveat Paddler.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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