Eating Pie from the Wrong End

I admit it.  I eat pie from the wrong end.  I start with the crust and eat my way into the middle.  I have done this as long as I can remember.  I can remember doing it when out on dates in high school when we would end the evening at a favourite restaurant and have pie and coffee.  Cherry pie was my favourite in those days.  I don’t think I have had cherry pie since I was in college.  My thinking on eating pie this way is that I want to get the least tasty bit out of the way first, and then concentrate on the best parts. 

We probably all do things that are not in accordance with the “normal’ as determined by what most other people do.  There are other things I do and believe in that do not conform to what is considered the norm in our society.  I consider myself religious, but I do not adhere to any of the beliefs of any denomination.  I have political beliefs that don’t necessarily coincide with any political party.  Despite many years in the military, I do not agree with many of the decisions that are made by them and their political masters.

One of the things that I really don’t agree with is the way our privacy is being eroded in the name of “security”.  Security is equated with forestalling terrorist attacks.  This threat is seen by many as the price we must pay form “freedom”.  But let’s look at this a bit more logically.  There are many, many ways to die quickly and violently in our everyday lives.  Traffic accidents kill many more of us every year that any terrorist attack could.  The same applies to sports accidents, murder, falls (the leading cause of injury to the elderly) and choking on food.  We may also die suddenly from stroke, heart attack and a number of other health issues.  And yet, we are most insecure about the possibility of terrorist attacks!

This fear has become the rationale for recording your phone calls, reading your e-mail and spying on citizens of our own country.  The problem in giving up our privacy is that we will never get it back.  Once it is gone, it is gone.  We rely on a benevolent government to collect and store this information, and to use it properly.  But governments are not always benevolent.  Can you imagine all of this information being available to Richard Nixon and his paranoia?  With the severe partisanship being experienced in North American governments today, can you really trust the government if you happen to disagree with them.  I’m not talking about treason or threats; I’m talking about supporting the opposition or disagreeing with the government of the day’s policies.  Maybe I should watch what I’m saying here. 

And let’s not forget the hackers who have shown themselves so adept at getting into the supposedly most secure computer networks. (The only secure computer is an off-line computer.) Who knows what they could do with access to this sort of information. 

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not paranoid nor am I a conspiracy theorist.  I just like to retain a certain amount of privacy and, like eating pie from the wrong end, like to look at issues from the other end.