So we were talking about Gary‘s responses to the anti-RIP campaign on Cal’s Web forums. Here’s what Gary said:
Gary, 20:00 14 June 2002: Big deal! If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear. Simple. People who start big campaigns about little things like this need shooting.
ell, 02:43 15 June 2002: Gary: Go read George Orwells’ “1984”, then tell us we have nothing to fear. :P
Gary, 13:18 16 June 2002: Not read the book but I’m sure a work of fiction like that is hardly worth getting over-exited about. Big Brother is watching? Of course they are! They HAVE to. In this post-September 11th time, every avenue of attack needs to be considered and monitored INCLUDING those that people are getting over excited about – if we want to live in a safer country without fear of being attacked on the scale of what happened on September 11th we MUST be prepared to allow the Government to intercept all forms of communication and associated evidence – and then act on it if they see criminal activity. Like I say, if you’ve done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear.
Cal wondered if we were in a minority being worried about these issues. I said:
The particular form of this argument makes it smell like a troll, but there are people with this opinion around. I don’t think they’re in the majority though.
It’s one of those areas where people will often exaggerate their own position when knocking off a one-liner, but don’t actually reflect that attitude when they’re living their day to day life.
In my experience, you get people saying this to strangers on Web forums, in taxi cabs, on TV vox pops, but if you actually engage with them on private e-mail, from the back seat, or after they’ve said it on camera, they quickly back down from their position to something more moderate.
The problem with a lot of politics is that most people see it as a specialised form of small talk: you state your opinion to get a reaction from your friends. It’s like talking about football or religion – the more separated you are from the ability to do anything about the topic, the more extreme and opinionated you become. Helplessness breeds extremism.
I never know whether I’m being hopelessly optimistic (or deluded) when I say things like this. I’ve spent so much of my life – as have we all – subtly floating away from those who disagree with me. I spend a lot of my time wondering whether I’m wrong; whether I’ve become an extremist; whether the other side has a point. I don’t see this as paralysis, I see it as critical thinking. It’s one of the many reasons I like the Web – watching people change their minds, even if they change it from what I believe to another point of view. I bet, for instance, there are a lot more British people who believe in widespread gun ownership than there ever was before the Net introduced them to the real opinions of “those crazy gun whackos”. Ultimately, I still think they’re crazy gun whackos, but at least I’ve engaged with them.
I think I’ll e-mail Gary and ask him what he thinks.