Neighbors Who Keep Curtains Closed Reported as Terror Suspects in UK

If this was in the U.S my neighbor would turn me in just because she could.

They'd be investigating me for sure. Not only do I keep my curtains closed I also keep my gates chained and padlocked at all times

Seems to me that if people want privacy in their own homes they are entitled to it.

Thankfully America hasn't gotten that bad YET

Closed curtains make you a terrorist in the UK? We have much higher standards here in the US. You can't just close your curtains and get that title. You can't just kill a few people. That is just a street punk. You have to perform some major operations. I suppose that is logical in a country where there are more guns than people. However thanks to looser ways of defining a terrorist, I believe our government could manage to label anyone a terrorist. Now that is scary.

Originally posted by orionthehunter
Closed curtains make you a terrorist in the UK? We have much higher standards here in the US. You can't just close your curtains and get that title. You can't just kill a few people. That is just a street punk. You have to perform some major operations. I suppose that is logical in a country where there are more guns than people. However thanks to looser ways of defining a terrorist, I believe our government could manage to label anyone a terrorist. Now that is scary.

Gosh, how small minded.... "here in the US"... it has nothing to do with countries any more. It stopped being about "here in the [insert country name]" a long time ago.

What it is all about is the so-called governments of what we used to know as countries working together to a common agenda.

Different objectives are being achieved in different "regions", but ultimately the goal is the same - a single world government.

You'll see some major changes in the US before long, and then people will be saying to you "you'll never see that in my country we have higher standards".... watch this space.

Originally posted by orionthehunter
Closed curtains make you a terrorist in the UK? We have much higher standards here in the US. You can't just close your curtains and get that title. You can't just kill a few people. That is just a street punk. You have to perform some major operations. I suppose that is logical in a country where there are more guns than people. However thanks to looser ways of defining a terrorist, I believe our government could manage to label anyone a terrorist. Now that is scary.

Really? Just recently in my town, we had a couple of guys who were sent to beat up some guy who had assaulted a friends sister. The got the house number wrong and beat up the wrong guy. Our local newspaper called it an act of terrorism. I posted in the comments on how stupid that was and almost every one told me I was nuts and that it was indeed terrorism.

The police are only good as their own individualistic opinions. If they've been conditioned to e numbified to the point they cant even make a reasonable judgement about a individual based upon those circumstances, then it says a lot about "terrorism" profiling all throughout the force. I wonder what it's agenda really is? Social Darwinism immediately springs to mind.

A lot of people in the UK, especially England, have curtains drawn and blinds down, because they're growing cannabis. The police know this too. I think our society is just becoming too paranoid about its citizens.

reply to post by Tykonos


It is ridiculous.. i was going to reply to this as well, having lived in both places i sure as hell know where there are more freedoms. As you say no place on Earth is free from problems on any level.. everywhere has their issues. It does amaze me how (usually Americans i have noticed over the years) people envision life over here, and how far out of focus that view really is. talking to my mother you wouldnt even think they have running water and toilets in the house over here! lol..

As to the OP, this artical came up someplace awhile back, its the same all over the place, the governments are very fearful of losing their control over the populace, they would have to be.. so of course they want neighbors to spy on their neighbors, in the guise of stopping terrorists and making mankind ever more suspicious of one another, keeping us seperated from one another..
Thankfully, where i live, all our neighbors know we arent overly social, but i do put on the face when need be to integrate to an extent, our curtains are normally closed, and we keep to ourselves most of all, but those living around us know this, accept it and thats that.
And just because the artical is of the UK doesnt mean it isnt happening in the US..if not more so as this practice has been started with the people since 9/11 happened.

I ignore my neighbours, and they reported me for just being alive lol.

I have never had anything to do with my neighbours, and never would even look at them, but they just set out to destroy my life.

Amazing how bad people are in london.

I am not surprised by this. Problem if your poor you have no choice but to accept where you live.

Originally posted by sandman441
If this was in the U.S my neighbor would turn me in just because she could.

Exactly, people are absolute rubbish.

The police have spent 18 years in london trying to frame me and destroy my life. They are not there trying to help people, they want to destroy people on purpose and my life has proven it.

[edit on 6/2/2010 by andy1033]

reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO


Wow, interesting, a "schoolboy" allegedly obssessed with drawing guns and bombs.

Notice, there was no age given, this could be a 6 year old, or a teenager.

While yes, this is certainly a cause for concern, obssessions often are, he is most likely doing this because it is all that is on television these days.

What with the War in Iraq, to Afghanistan, to North Korea and American news.

The way I was raised, you did not leave your curtains open, so people could not scope out your home for a robbery, period, and if the United Kingdom is that paranoid about terrorism, and the citizens want to live in the literal "Police and Surveillance State", let them have it.

Law Enforcement can only do its job, to the limited ability that citizens assist it.

But, there is a limit even to what we do, before we are living within a prison of our own making, and when assistance to deterrance of terrorism is equal to giving away too much power to Government, because people are terrified not only of the alleged terrorists under every bush.

Animal Farm and 1984

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/02156645499d.jpg[/atsimg]

Amazon Review :

ANIMAL FARM

George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is an intimate part of our contemporary culture.

It is the account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm--a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal.

Out of their cleverness, the pigs Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball emerge as leaders of the new community in a subtle evolution that proves disastrous.

The climax is the brutal betrayal of the faithful horse Boxer, when totalitarian rule is reestablished with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan:

But some Animals Are More Equal Than Others. . . .

1984

In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind.

Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions.

Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party.

Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Yes, we as citizens, of every country, allowed the creation of the 1984 mentality.

Through sheer ignorance, happenstance, and a lack of diligence in monitoring how powerful Government, take your pick of which one, became.

Yes, we as citizens, of every country, allowed the creation of the Animal Farm mentality.

Through sheer ignorance, happenstance, and a lack of diligence in monitoring how powerful Government, take your pick of which one, became.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b8b413022d73.jpg[/atsimg]

We allowed and or encouraged the Nanny State through allowing ourselves to believe, not in our own power, but in that of people who do not officially represent us, but the interests of special interest groups and lobbyists.

While some of this may relate to the United States, some of it relates to our allies across the pond in the United Kingdom as well, but the majority lies on the heads of those Government officials who deem their foreign policy worthy of pissing on and pissing off the Middle East because of oil.

I suggest another good book (other than 1984 and Animal Farm) for everyone on this thread.

The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/94f1880c5ece.jpg[/atsimg]

Amazon Review :

“The Science of Fear elegantly weaves academic research and everyday experience, exposing the secrets of emotion and reason, and the essential roles they play on our lives. An excellent book.”
--Dan Ariely, author of New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational

“Where writers such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Francis Wheen have been content largely to enumerate the errors of less rational men and women, Dan Gardner has collated part of what we need to diagnose the problem. If skeptics spent less time moaning about the propensity of their fellows to believe what they want to believe and more time asking why they do so, there might not be such a crisis of reason in the West today.”
--The Independent

“Terrific. Exceptionally good… Has the clarity of Malcolm Gladwell.”
--Evening Standard

“Excellent…. analyses everything from the media’s predilection for irrational scare stories to the cynical use of fear by politicians pushing a particular agenda…. Gardner never falls into the trap of becoming frustrated and embittered by the waste and needless worry that he is documenting. A personal anecdote about an unwise foray into a Nigerian slum in search of a stolen wallet disposes of the idea that the author is immune to the foibles he describes. What could easily have been a catalogue of misgovernance and stupidity instead becomes a cheery corrective to modern paranoia.”
--The Economist

“Those of us who spend our careers in research hope that someone like Daniel Gardner will come along and bring our findings to the world in an engaging and scientifically accurate way. Thank you, Dan! Some books can change the world. This one might.”
--Paul Slovic, Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon, past President of The Society for Risk Analysis

“Fear needs a science and Daniel Gardner offers a fast-paced tour of what the most interesting researchers have revealed. The number of things that you don't need to be afraid of is encouraging, but finding out why we still do fear them anyway is fascinating. Essential reading for anyone interested in the social mistakes we make everyday--and how to fix them.”
--Tyler Cowen, author of Discover Your Inner Economist

“An invaluable resource for anyone who aspires to think clearly.”
--The Guardian “Elegantly summarises the results of psychological research … Gardner is forensic in his dissection of bogus claims in advertising and politics, just as he is lucid about the science explaining why they work.”
--The Observer

“A fascinating insight into the peculiar and devastating nature of human fear, while training the reader to be ever wary of misleading media announcements.”
--The Telegraph

Not up to adapting to the ever-changing Police State mentality?

You're responsible for it, each time you bitch, complain, and whinge about politics.

If you're not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem, too many people sit on their duff's and believe the politicians are going to do the right thing, instead of getting into politics themselves, and doing something.

Anything, politically, is better than nothing, because if you think it is too hard, either you did not try hard enough, or you are making excuses.

Excuses for being a lazy, irresponsible, and lax world citizen.

Time to get off your duff and stop watching American Idol and the bread and circuses.

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/eea3a0b74e16.jpg[/atsimg]

Amazon Review :

Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective.

The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives.

Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze.

Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese.

It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image.

Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found.

Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships.

The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change.

And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change.

They always have changed and always will change.

And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler

Are you hemming and hawing or are you sniffing and scurrying?

I also suggest a movie soon to come out that looks into the Thought Police.

Extended Inception Teaser


Because the mind is the last bastion and refuge of freedom we hold dear.

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Motivation : No Arms, No Legs, Yet Still An Inspiration : What's Your Excuse?

Do not allow your last thought to be the one that gets you arrested.

[edit on 2-6-2010 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I notice on the recording that someone made that the copper wouldn't give his name, so maybe if someone has the bottle it would be a good jape to ring them up and say that you've come across some suspicious characters who:

Are asking for information about people and events, wanting to know routines etc, but they hide themselves and won't reveal their identity. You think it's really suspicious and they might be terrorists.

When they start to get interested and ask who it is say "it's you."

What do you mean? "Well, what's your name," etc.

You get the idea.

That could be funny if it's done right.

I agree this is a bit extreme.... but better safe than sorry

Does it strike anyone else as profoundly stupid and ironic to try to prevent radicalisation through an increase in exertion of control?

There is nothing as infuriating as having your space intruded - whether that space is physical or psychological - by an entity claiming to bring peace.

Their policies will never 'save' as many schoolboys from radical thoughts as they will instill in society in general.

Originally posted by panzerpundit
1984, and welcome to the Big Brother world. Never mind that the UK has the biggest CCTV network in the world, but now they need their citizens to spy on each other. Brilliant.

i'm sure it's been mentioned before on ats but for the full scary picture of the big brother state that is the uk, watch a film called "erasing david" - scary stuff!

now, i'm off to top up my oyster card (aka tracking and location recording device, as required to be used by ten million londoners...)

sun is shining..

23

Originally posted by Tykonos
reply to post by panzerpundit

 

It's harldy like 1984. North Korea maybe but the UK....seriously?

So we have lots of CCTV in public places, why should that bother you?

As for neighbours spying on each other, well if you lived in the town I used to when I was younger, you couldn't fart without the whole street knowing about it.

You're right it's not like 1984. In many respects it's much worse. And what's scary is next to no one knows or cares about it. The ability to spy on people already far surpasses Orwell's vision.

ALL governments become corrupt.
ALL institutions become corrupt.
Pyschos and sociopaths gravitate toward positions of power and their lack conscience means it's easier for scum to rise to the top. Scum attracts scum subordinates. It's time to start your preparations, get a food store, water collection and purification system, start your own power generation, grow a vegetable patch, get out of paper money and into gold silver and tangible assets with intrinsic value. Get your shotgun licence, it's a right not a privilege. Yes you read right, here in the UK you have a right to own a shotgun.

Jakarta is coming.

A fascist police state is nearer than you think.
Population reduction is already underway.
They're even destroying UK pensions right now so we'll barely be able to afford food.

Originally posted by little_green_man
I agree this is a bit extreme.... but better safe than sorry

Better safe than sorry?!?!?!? Its that kind of attitude that has allowed TPTB to whittle away nearly all of our freedoms. Turn ur neighbor in for keeping their curtains closed? Absolutely ludicrus! Its the "better safe than sorry" mentality that has brought the world this far into the total mess it is. Where one has to fill out paperwork in order to use the toilet, to wipe one's own @$$! What amazes and perplexes me is that the CCTV system in Britain was put into place in order to monitor everyones comings and goings and to watch everyone. It is the most extensive system in the world, yet it is apparently not working, because authorities are now asking neighbors to spy on each other!!! Just how much control and monitoring do TPTB think we need? What's next? Perhaps CCTV cameras placed in all rooms of ones house?
I am so glad they've not implemented a system like that where I live. I certainly hope it doesn't come knockin anytime soon either!

reply to post by monkeySEEmonkeyDO


I keep my bedroom curtains shut for most of the day as my computer is near the window and the light streaming in makes it hard to see the screen. Does this make me a terror suspect? My father keeps his curtains shut because he is terminally ill, needs sleep and the light shining through keeps him awake.

I think this shows that knowing your neighbors has yet another benefit.

Good thing I'm a U.S. Citizen. I keep my curtains closed, because we don't generally wera clothes, inside our home. If our curtains were open and a neighbor saw, we would be convicted and registered as SEX OFFENDERS. Pretty-cool set-up, eh?

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


Wow big post I skimmed it, I think I'm in agreement with you.

In regards to the kids' drawings he was probably just suffering Halo or COD withdrawl. Aren't all male kids and many females too all obsessed with guns and bombs? Isn't that what gaming is all about? Isn't that what TPTB want? They want 'enders' to pilot their drones and control their teleprescence robots.

Jakarta is coming! Honest!