Odd looking photographer? Must be a terrorist
The London Metropolitan police have just issued new measures in the fight against terrorism. During a five week campaign police officers are expected to stop and search more “odd” looking people and the public are being warned to report anything “suspicious”. But after just two weeks since its launch the public are starting to question whether it’s infringing on civil liberties. Photographers in particular are sick of being questioned by policemen and being told to move on. To voice their complaints, artists are creating their own versions of the campaign’s posters.
The original campaign
The publicity campaign was launched on 25 February 2008. "Odd" looking photographers, houses with "unusual activity" or "suspicious mobile" phone users are all things to look out for. Here are the original posters:
"I’ve been stopped three times in the last two weeks"
When our Observer Nick Fine was stopped by the police in London, he decided to capture the moment on film. The amateur photographer put his camera on timer mode and posed with the police officers. He then used the images to create this parody of the original campaign poster, and posted it along with the police statement he received.
Nick Fine is an amateur photographer from London:
I know they've got to make the public aware but we need to use some kind of common sense. Since when did Al-Qaeda start doing their research in high visibility gear? Or choosing ruddy great big white Canon lenses over small high resolution point and shoot compacts? In broad daylight at rush hour? The campaign's basically telling you "If there are a thousand photographers then one of them is a terrorist". Interviewing me is wasting police time. And it's frustrating. We haven't been presented with any facts [along with the campaign] so it's basically media hype and scaremongering, which is hard to take seriously."
Comments
Ok, so I get that being
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 03:23.Ok, so I get that being "really" upset with simple encouragement to be alert and possibly prevent something bad from happening has somehow become popular. I also get that you really can't say something like "this ad campaign is probably not effective since it is not narrow enough", instead, you have to say that "the government are the real terrorists" and it is absolutely required that some reference be made to the government being A) Nazi's B) Al Quaida C) Satan (ok, I made that one up; obvious since that would probably not be viewed negatively).
What I don't get is that this crowd somehow thinks normal people will take them any more seriously than normal people will take these posters... Do they (you) really think that people will somehow smack themselves in the forehead and say that the government of a democracy is now somehow worse than the Nazi government or Al Quaida or that somehow the terrorists have now "won" since someone put up these posters or asked a photographer with a "big lens" what he was doing? Wow, what an imposition on "civil rights".
When is comes down to it, the posters are not likely to help; the counter posters are much more creative (and funny), but are no more effective than the original posters simply because THIS WHOLE THING IS A NON-ISSUE AND PEOPLE NEED TO RELAX!
civil rights are a "non-issue"
Submitted by WOI (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 05:05.When such "simple encouragements" lead to police profiling and the harassment of innocent individuals, it is a pity that people like you refuse to "smack themselves in the forehead" and comprehend that civil rights (and democracy) only exist for as long as they are defended.
Quote: "THIS WHOLE THING IS A NON-ISSUE AND PEOPLE NEED TO RELAX!"
Maybe you would like to tell this to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes?
And maybe someone should go
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 16:10.And maybe someone should go to the next Nazi survivors meeting and ask them if these posters and possibly someone being inconvenienced by being asked questions like "what'cha doing" compare to good old Adolf's regime! NOT! Somehow the reactionists have been able to get away with comparing profiling (which happens to be an effective policing technique) with rounding up 6 or 8 million people gassing them and incinerating their bodies... it is time to stop.
If you haven't noticed yet; in a democracy, the government isn't some abstract separate entity from the populace ...it IS the populace! If you don't like it's activities, you don't have to skulk around and pretend government is "big brother"; government in a democracy actually is your brother and all your other family members and friends and neighbors too. Get involved, run for office if you don't like what is going on, fix it. Go have a beer with that cop who you are so afraid is going to trample your civil rights; maybe meet him at the school pageant where your kids go to school together... the point is, the police, the government, the person who made these posters are your neighbors, colleagues at work, maybe family members... they are NOT some anonymous entity behind the wall that are conspiring against the rest of the population.
What is a real pity is that "people like you" can't make the distinction between what is a real issue and what is a non-issue. And what is more of a pity is that "people like you" are willing to equate a good intentioned, but probably ineffective, campaign to raise awareness with "the government" somehow trampling civil rights and being equal to the Nazi's murdering Jews and Al Quaida cutting people's heads off to make their point. I'm sorry, it just doesn't rise the the same level.
The real problem is that "people like you" realize that if these items are discussed at face value then the population at large easily recognizes that this is barely a threat to be an inconvenience much less an affront to civil rights so in order to gain attention some people like to scream "Nazi" and equate democracies to Al Quaida and generally act like there is something here when there is not.
It is offensive. This incessant screeching minimizes the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis, the atrocities that are currently being committed by Al Quaida as well as the atrocities being committed in other areas like Darfur.
Just stop. It is a poster. Poke fun at it because it is probably ineffective; it is probably a waste of tax money and they generally have set themselves up for ridicule, but get off the civil rights have gone out the window and we are living in a Nazi state track.
As far as the comment about Jean Charles de Menezes; that is tragic. The fact that you can quote his name is proof positive that the tragedies are the exception.
quick remarks
Submitted by WOI (not verified) on Wed, 21/05/2008 - 08:02.An impressive tirade, but a bit off point.
I wonder where you got the impression that I was equating the Met's brutish campaign to the Holocaust.
Quote: "in a democracy, the government isn't some abstract separate entity from the populace ...it IS the populace!"
Does the populace owe explanation to its democratic government for its actions?
"Democracy" is a label, it is a quality.
BTW, the plural form of "Nazi" is "Nazis," not "Nazi's." I'm only saying this because the phrase "the Nazi's murdering Jews" just sounds wrong.
Nazi's murdering Jews
Submitted by David Conlin (not verified) on Thu, 14/08/2008 - 16:26.You are absolutely right. However, not only does the phrase 'Nazi's murdering Jews' sound wrong, it is very wrong. Written that way, it actually means Nazis who have or own some Jews who murderer for them. Somehow, I feel that the Jewish population would find that as offensive as I do.
Read 'Eats, shoots, and leaves', by Lynn Truss.
correction
Submitted by WOI (not verified) on Wed, 21/05/2008 - 08:08.Sorry about the double-posting. Also, just noticed a major error. Here is the correction:
Democracy is NOT a label, it is a quality.
An impressive tirade, but a
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Wed, 21/05/2008 - 08:01.An impressive tirade, but a bit off point, I'm afraid.
I wonder where you got the impression that I was equating the Met's brutish campaign to the Holocaust.
Quote: "in a democracy, the government isn't some abstract separate entity from the populace ...it IS the populace!"
Does the populace owe explanation to its democratic government for its actions?
"Democracy" is a label, it is a quality.
BTW, the plural form of "Nazi" is "Nazis," not "Nazi's." I'm only saying this because the phrase "the Nazi's murdering Jews" just sounds wrong.
This should be printed on
Submitted by Binx (not verified) on Sat, 17/05/2008 - 23:08.This should be printed on stickers and posted around the city.
If a terrorist actually want to destroy something the police stopping them wouldn't do anything. Anyone can lie and say they are a tourist or a photographer.
Where's the evidence?
Submitted by MrGrey1 (not verified) on Mon, 14/04/2008 - 10:54.I'm yet to see any real evidence of terrorism presented by the authorities that would be anything near a serious threat to the West that has enough substance to stand up to any sort of critical analysis. Be it 911, 711 or the Bali bombings there are serious questions regarding all these alleged terrorist acts that the authorities completely avoid. From destruction of evidence to omission of facts, obfuscation and outright lies. WTC7? Enough said!
If you dare to ask the questions that the authorities should be asking regarding these so called 'terrorist acts' your labeled a conspiracy theorist and derided as a nut job. These so called leaders are lying through their teeth. The only terrorist threat I'm worried about is the one that stems from the 'elected' governments and representatives of our so called 'free' society.
Orwell was an optimist, God help our children.
You don't see evidence of
Submitted by bcage (not verified) on Tue, 20/05/2008 - 20:05.You don't see evidence of terrorism from "911, 711 or the Bali bombings" or any of "these alleged terrorist acts"!?! If you are very careful in how you look at the troves of information, you can always find the conspiracy nuggets, but to be able to navigate that entire body of information and not be able to see any evidence of terrorism requires special talent! You my friend must have quite the talent!
WTC7? My friends that worked in that building must have missed the whole team of demolition experts that came in and placed the charges and ran the timing fuses to bring down that building... I guess that is to be expected since they regularly fail to notice the black helicopters and the infrared spy satellites that can see through walls and capture spoken conversations from space to transmit them to evil multi-billionaire multi-nationalists that are trying to take over the free world (why does no-one ever want to take over the non-free world).
Please ignore the last period in the previous sentence... it is a spy micro-dot that is moving its way through through the internet collecting up information about those who dare expose the "truth" about "alleged" terrorist attacks! Mooohhaaahhaaaahaaahaaa!!