As IF Times

Source: Marine Le Pen: How France Will Conquer the Enemies of Liberty | TIME

There’s a joke going around which goes, ” How many extremists will it take to destroy America? Answer, none; the liberals will do it from within”.

In the aftermath of the Paris terrorist incident, we observe the usual indignation of the public through the usual people.  Journalists or politicians are always available to publicly express their defiance and indignation.  It all looks familiar especially since this same show of defiance was demonstrated after the Charlie Hebdo shootings earlier this year.  There’s hand holding, candlelight vigils and well meaning brave speeches about living life without fear as a rebuke to those that would curtail their freedoms.  But it’s all self indulgent breast beating along with the expected bromides.  What would really make a difference is a change in mindset to address how to minimize forever the probability of this kind of thing from happening again.

That there would be sad consequences to the carte blanche policy of ‘freedoms’ associated with an open and liberal society have been demonstrated again and again…and again.  We have come to the point that people are so afraid to appear intolerant that conspicuously intolerant activities directed against them are acceptable.  People have become so brainwashed to appear tolerant and accepting that they are obligated to accept even that which is brazenly and unapologetically harmful to them.  It’s as if you welcome  a guest to dinner even though they have clearly informed you that they will murder you sometime between the crème brulee and the  coffee.  There may as well be a suicide gene that has infected western society.

Though the tragedy in Paris carries the headlines, this same mindset that gave rise to the vulnerability of the French to the consequences of  blind liberalism  has taken seed in the U.S.  The most recent manifestations ironically come from the campuses of American universities, the quintessential institutions of free speech, tolerance and liberalism. Except that they have morphed grotesquely into caricatures of themselves.  Incidents such as those at Mizzou and others and here  demonstrate the perverse twisting of the open hand of idealized freedom of expression into the heel of bullying oppression.

As is likely the case in France, the regular folk here are probably not ok with the perversion of what is acceptable behavior in the name of freedom and liberty. However, those that are in positions of influence insist that to raise a voice against anti social behavior is, well,  anti social.  The consequence of course is to encourage more anti social behavior as groups get emboldened and opposing voices get progressively meeker. (If this reminds anyone of the global warming charade, it’s not a coincidence).  The enablers are the political and media class who sanctimoniously invoke tolerance and acceptance when really, they push stupidity.  Come to think of it, that also describes Global warming.

There is a quote attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire which goes, ” I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.  It all sounds good on paper, but personally, I doubt that he would have carried through with this statement of bravado,  especially not these days when extremists vow to kill him at the first opportunity.  To paraphrase another famous quote, “it’s all fun until someone loses an eye”.

Source: Vizio Smart TVs Track Watching Habits To Work With Advertisers « CBS Sacramento

I get that this is a great idea for advertisers, but I’m unclear on why it’s a good idea for anyone else.

It all started with caller ID.  When this little feature was offered on phones, it was a godsend because you could ignore telemarketers, your in-laws, your boss and of course pesky boy or girlfriends.  Stalking people became more problematic if the name of the guy breathing heavily on the other end of the line had his name clearly displayed on your phone screen.

Of course the reverse of this is an advertiser’s dream.  Using modern computer technology, they can now tell who has been looking at their ads, or browsing on their sites.  To make it even easier for them, people actually volunteer not just their names and addresses, but their likes, dislikes, travel activities, lists of friends and their likes and activities by having them posted online via Facebook, Instagram and Linked-in to mention a few of the most popular social media sites.

The proliferation of apps that people download to their smartphones are widely accepted as convenience tools to help make peoples’ lives easier and more convenient.  It’s hard to imagine how we lived before we knew the identity of the plane flying overhead just by pointing our phone at it.  Or the position of the dog star in the sky.  Or the most recent astrological update.

There are apps now that will send notifications of sale items to your phone as you walk through retail stores.  A coupon will flash and point you to the product.  From here, it’s only a step away from the app ringing up the purchase if you swiped left or right.  This notion is supported by Apple’s Tim Cook declaring that cash will be unknown within a generation since all transactions will be done virtually.  As readers may know, I am not of that opinion, How Do You Tip The Girls .

So now it’s reported that ‘smart tv’s’ will be monitoring peoples’ viewing habits.   If you happen to binge watch The Golden Girls on a rainy weekend, ads will pop up showing walk-in tubs and medic alert amulets.  If you happen to watch a lot of Cesar Millan dog shows, you may get deluged with dog food ads.  Same thing if you happened to watch The View.

In essence, information on where and how you spend your money, who your friends are, how you pass  your entertainment time and where you go as mapped by your car’s GPS is on a database somewhere for someone to use for whatever reason they may wish. What could possibly go wrong?