Red Light District

The strategic adversary is fascism...
the fascism in us all, in our heads
and in our everyday behavior,
the fascism that causes us to love power,
to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us
--Michel Foucault

There was of course no way of knowing
whether you were being watched at any given moment.
How often, or on what system, the Thought Police
plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork
--1984, George Orwell

According to biographer Lou Cannon,
[Reagan] called the death of innocent civilians
in anti-terror operations "terrorism itself."
--5 Myths of Reagan's Legacy
____________________

A recent reports claims red light cameras save lives ("Red light cameras get Results").

Ranger has commented before on the presumption of guilt that comes with a technological accuser seen as infallible. As a increased source of revenue for the state, the use of the cameras is a no-brainer. But they disallow the accused the benefit of facing her accuser in a court of law. It is as a juvenile friend says when caught like the proverbial cat with the bird in his mouth: "BUSTED!" But should it be thus?

While one has no expectation of privacy in a vehicle on a public highway, one has in the past had the right to face the witness to his transgression in a court of law: The policeman who wrote the ticket. No matter how indignant the ticketee, it is recognized that the cop is not a thing. However, the policeman's role is now co-opted by a thing, and since this is so, has the technology now gained a measure of "personhood"?

Are we entering the age of the Borg, and if so, what is the endpoint? Will no area of our lives be sancrosanct? The average Briton is photographed approximately 200 times in the average day (the British publication Philosophy Now! devoted an entire issue to the topic.) How does the knowledge of this constant surveillance affect the human psyche? Will we become so inured/submissive that we will not mind this evisceration of our bedrock right to face our accusers? Will we come to love Big Brother?

The red light cameras are said to increase safety at intersections. It is the Santa Claus/God effect: He knows when you've been bad or good, and you have no idea when he is actually watching? If safety is the concern -- as it seems to be the all-consuming God of modern America -- are there not other ways to affect this in a matter more in concert with democratic principles?

Would increasing the yellow light cycle reduce light running? Increased penalties and increased sentences for injuries caused by light-running? In addition to the alternative approaches to the problem, we fail to consider that we are made unsafe on the roads due to inconsiderate and selfish behaviors such as cell phone use, texting, eating, being distracted or overly aggressive or simply failing to use signaling devices.

With more "infallible" intrusions we grow like Patrick McGoohan's Prisoner, dwelling in a world of shrunken perimeters. Will we welcome a statewide version of Bentham's prison Panopticon, or like Foucault, will see the limitation and limiting factors of such a Big Brother overwatch?

In Nick Parks' classic animal claymation of life in a zoo, Creature Comforts, a nearsighted sloth with Mr. McGoo glasses says, "I feel secure I'm not worried about anything . . . I know what ever happens they'll look after me and put me where I ought to be." Or will we be the disgruntled Latin lion who protests against his safe, nutritionally adequate but soul-zapping "dog food" diet: "I need meat; I need a-space. I'll go anywhere -- name it, I'll go".

--Jim and Lisa

Prison Planet

Trainers, with Dolly and Max
_______________

A week ago Ranger and Lisa attended the graduation of the most recent class of our local Paws in Prison (PIP) program at the Wakulla Correctional Institution, and its one-year celebration. This program partners shelter animals -- most "last chance dogs" -- with inmates who obedience train the animals under the tutelage of trainer Jay King.

We've written about the program before because we think it is completely worthy ("What If"). This is a totally volunteer program (run on donations), and every 8 weeks a new pack cycles through. The inmates spoke with visitors after the celebration. One told me that they grow very attached, and would not emotionally be able to do it if they did not immediately move on to a new animal. But, he said, "We still talk about our dogs."

56 dogs have been graduated in five classes thus far, and have been placed in homes throughout the country. About 60 inmates have participated, and the program has an almost 100% successful placement rate.

A slide show featured many of the dogs in their new placements, aboard sailboats and generally having a good time. It was obvious watching the dogs with their trainers that they were well-adjusted and playful animals.

One of the speakers read from a letter received by an inmate participant (many of whom have been with the program for the entire year): "Most people figure we're bad if we're in here. We don't have much chance to prove we're any good, but this program and being able to put the dogs in good homes is a way to prove that."

I spoke briefly with Mr. King, who explained his belief that each good someone puts into the world helps counter a wrong. There's no reason not to not believe such a positive equation.

King's mission is "to enhance the relationship between the inmate and the dog through education, communication and companionship, thus promoting rehabilitation for both parties." He explained the central tenet of training is "trust and respect." Training will not occur until the handler has learned self-discipline, and can then elicit those responses from the dogs.

We are not naive, but we are tired of America's prison planet mentality which seeks only the incarceration and punitive model of deterrence. We must do something to address our huge incarceration rates lest prisons and prisoners become our new "produce nothing" product. According to the NYT, "The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners" (U.S. Prison Population Dwarfs That of Other Nations).

One can almost imagine an America whose main industries are prisons, hospitals, Big Pharma and PepsiCo snack factories, to keep the whole shebang running like a well-oiled machine. The stuff of some horrific dystopian sci-fi novel.

Many institutions throughout the country feature similar programs ("Paws for Patriots"). If you have one in your area, you might consider participating in some capacity.

Most inmates will return to society at some point. Why not foster their humanity, as well?