Konspiracy Korner!

Today I noticed two old photos, rebranded as new outrages , doing the rounds on social media and garnering the expected shock horror responses as they did so.
What really saddened me was the ease with which it could be discovered that the photos in question were actually old .
People seemed to prefer to be outraged and ill-informed.
I know that in this era of online mobs wielding virtual pitchforks , all announcements on social media must be taken with a pinch of salt .
It's almost too easy to be swept up in righteous indignation , so online fact-checking should always begin with the date of a post.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibit A:

It's a couple of days after an apparently quiet and well attended Midsummer Solstice at Stonehenge.
Suddenly, on Facebook:

Instant outrage. 

Cries of 'Ill-mannered scum, litterbugs, 'etc.

That particular thread descended into classist rants about overprivileged rich kids, blah blah.

The photo in question actually dates from 2012.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibit B:

 Who is holding the old ladies arms?

Apparently a retired nurse who was arrested and taken to Paddington Green following the Anti-Austerity demo on Saturday 20th June 2015.
It's actually a photo from Feb 2012 of a protesting retired teacher (who was escorted to the pavement).

This kind of badly Photoshopped misinformation is surely damaging to the credibility of anyone who is against the current regime...so is it the product of a misguided activist attempting to raise the ire of the people ?
Or is this a double bluff designed to undermine the credibility of protestors ?

You see how easy it is to drift into the realms of the fabled  'Tin-Foil Helmet ' ?

Someone posted a lengthy piece on how spies spread misinformation online too - perhaps to reinforce a point: after all, it's hardly likely that our friends in GCHQ (or the NSA if you're Stateside) would actually tell us what they're doing, and how they do it
I mean, seriously...

I know this is a brief post, but I'm just going to put it out there before it is too late, and they surpress my wanton reality checks !
As if

Kindergarten Konspiracy

I am pleased to see regular readers here on my humble blog. It's a constant source of fascination to watch the statistics change on a daily basis - that may sound facetious but I mean it - I find it amazing that people across the globe (well, Tooting ), can tune into my aimless rambling.
I humbly thank you all- both !
Now back to the business of undermining the inhumane regime ...
Just joking! I just wanted to throw in a couple of buzzwords to enhance my readership with government watchdogs!

Attribute unknown (perpetrator chose not to be identified)

(Removes  tin - foil helmet, combs hair, adjusts tie, adopts 'serious' expression and faces camera 1.)

In news just in, we wonder why people insist :

"If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear".

That is a knee - jerk response to the continued, ongoing, unjustified erosion of personal rights.
What began as a 'security measure' conveniently hiding behind a threat labelled 'Terrorism' and 'National Security', is now a corporate smörgasbord, with our personal likes and wants offered for sale to the lowest bidder, and on a darker level, certain words and phrases in our online searches bringing us to the attention of agencies of government.
So far so good, we're being monitored for security reasons.
Except it doesn't stop there.

Here in the UK the tabloid media is constantly crying 'wolf ' - the dangers of online chatrooms , the nasty men on Pirate Bay - and don't even mention the foul perverts and junkies using Tor.
Remove the sense of righteous indignation however, and what would the next target be ?
After all, the scaremongering tabloids must have an enemy in their midst - otherwise no-one would believe their deceptions and lies - God forbid, people might educate themselves and then where would we be ?
The noise reaches the ears of the lawmakers who promptly legislate new 'safety measures' into online interactions -
'think of the children' is a popular cry, guaranteed to result in wholesale agreement to most new measures.

So hurrah for those fighting for Net Neutrality* and online freedoms.
And yes, that includes those who work to improve open source software that stands free of commercial influence.

On the other hand, I'm writing this blog on Google, right in the belly of the beast.
Best place really.
Nothing to hide, you see.

So there you go - in one fell swoop I've defused my own argument.
The reason is that I don't want to cry 'wolf ' myself.
I could paste links to surveillance news and oppressive governments all over this piece, but that's not my reason for doing this.

I just want to perhaps stimulate the odd thought, and re-ignite the realisation that the internet is controlled by and open to all people.

That's why I'm here, doing this.
Because I can.

The internet is not , and never should be driven by commercial interests. 


* Update : Feb 26 2015, the FCC approves Net Neutrality, so well done to friends in the U.S.A.!
(and bad luck to the greedy corporates )