Slowly, but surely, the anti ID cards message is seeping into the public consciousness. Slowly, but surely, like an awakening dragon from ancient mythology, the realisation that all is not well is dawning on the mainstream media and they are starting (albeit tardily) to prick the collective consciousness of the slumberous masses.
Today the Observer publishes a piece by Henry Porter and he hit all the nails, one by one. I particularly like the way he gets to the nub of government’s sinister style of advertising.
Whether the campaign is about rape, TV licences or filling in your tax form, there is always a we-know-where-you-live edge to the message, a sense that this government is dividing the nation into suspects and informers.
He unpicks the nature of “voluntary†as espoused by ZANU Labour ministers:
It turns out that there is nothing voluntary about it. If you renew your passport, you will be compelled to provide all the information the state requires for its sinister data base. The Home Secretary says that the decision to apply for, or renew, a passport is entirely a matter of individual choice; thus he maintains that the decision to commit those personal details to the data base is a matter of individual choice.
Justin over at Chicken Yoghurt highlights this particular line of thinking during the debate:
I offer this exchange, from the most recent debate on ID cards in the House of Commons, between Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, and his Tory opposite number, David Davis:
David Davis: Does the Home Secretary think that foreign travel is voluntary for diplomats, soldiers and other Crown servants and their families?
Mr. Charles Clarke: It is not compulsory.
This technique is known as the big lie. Given that there are no benefits to us in this scheme, the big lie is all that ministers have and they cling to it, like drowning men on a plank of rotting timber hewn from their creaking ship as it is engulfed by the tempest.
Henry Porter also notes the, er, less than veracious behaviour of the Safety Elephant.
Clarke has now established himself as a deceiver, even in the eyes of his party.
It’s like that old joke; how do you tell if the Safety Elephant is lying? His lips move (Boom! Boom!).
Then Porter goes for the big one; the real threat behind this insidious scheme:
Oddly enough, the compulsory provision of personal information to the government database is not the greatest threat to our freedom, though it is in itself a substantial one. The real menace comes when the ID card scheme begins to track everyone’s movements and transactions, the details of which will kept on the database for as long as the Home Office desires.
Finally, at last… they get it.
‘Proper’ newspapers and satirical programmes are finally beginning to see it. The public will very slowly follow suit, bit by bit. Eventually, nearly everyone will see it and then the red mist will really start. Expect to see demonstrations in city streets and massive anti-ID signs everywhere.