Guest Post by Eric Peters
If you want a glimpse into the future, here’s a look at our present.
A woman named Lindsey Isaac – who didn’t hit-and-run (much less kill anyone) – was recently Hut! Hut! Hutted! in extremis by Florida armed government workers because Flock told them she’d hit-and-run someone and fled the scene in her black Dodge Durango. As it later turned out, she just happened to be driving a few miles away from the scene – driving the same make/model vehicle as the one that actually did hit-and-run (and kill) someone.
Isaac was stopped at gunpoint, arrested on multiple felonies and held in solitary confinement for 86 hours, which is nearly four days straight. According to Isaac’s subsequent testimony, the Hut! Hut! Hutters! told her that putting her in solitary “was required because of the severity of the charges and pending evaluation.”
Don’t you just love the “pending evaluation” part? It’s the echo of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, who famously screeched “sentence first! verdict afterward!”
The almost-four-days in solitary was just the beginning. Isaacs “was then moved to a mental-health unit for approximately 24 hours before being transferred to maximum-security housing, where she remained for the rest of her 13-day detention,” according to her testimony and reporting by The Center Square.
The Hut! Hut! Hutters! who felony stopped Isaacs were apparently not skeptical of the Flock camera’s index finger j’ accusing Isaacs, even though her Durango wasn’t damaged – which you’d think it would be if she’d just been involved in a wreck severe enough to smash up another vehicle and kill someone in the process. Nor did they notice that her Durango was not the same color as the one reported by the humans who witnessed the crash.
They just Flocked her up.
Eventually, it was all cleared up.
Prosecutors dropped all charges after it became undeniable she didn’t do what the Flock cameras led the Hut! Hut! Hutters! to believe she’d done. A later investigation identified another woman, Alisa Montalvo, as the suspected driver in connection with the crash, according to Fox 35.
Isn’t that special?
Isaacs has since filed a civil lawsuit against Florida Highway Patrol troopers and the agency, which she might win – but if she does, it’s the taxpayers who’ll pay. Not the Hut! Hut! Hutters! who subjected her to a felony stop at gunpoint, manacled her and placed her in solitary confinement solely on the basis of a “tip” from a Flock camera. They apparently made no effort to establish congruence between the Flock camera’s “tip” and Isaac’s vehicle which – remember – showed no damage. Nor was it the same color as reported by witnesses. Nor was it the only Durango in the area. Isaac’s was just one of several. The Dodge Durango is a common vehicle. If the hit-and-run had involved say a bright orange 1976 Trans-Am such as the one owned by this writer – which is probably the only bright orange ’76 Trans-Am in my state and definitely the only one in my county – then a Hut! Hut! Hutting! could be justified on the basis of that dusty old thing called probable cause, which no longer matters much in a country that has been Red Queened for years and is now being Flocked.
Sentence First! Verdict afterward! And not just that.
Investigate never!
Screenshot
That’s one of the problems with these Flock cameras. Like driver “assistance” technology, they inculcate passivity. The cops – the armed government workers – let the cameras do the “investigating.” What happened to Isaacs is not the only instance of such “investigation” – and Hut! Hut! Hutting! One of the many other instances involved a woman who was accused – on her doorstep – by a Hut! Hut! Hutter! of having porch-pirated someone else’s package. The Hut! Hut! Hutter! insisted she was guilty – because the cameras had recorded her vehicle in the neighborhood. In her neighborhood. Where she lives. It became her burden to prove her innocence – which she managed to do. Then there is the instance of the car journalist – a guy who does what I do, which is test drive and review new vehicles loaned for that purpose by the vehicle’s manufacturer. He got felony-stopped in the press vehicle he had been loaned by Land Rover to review because Flock “tipped” the Hut! Hut! Hutters! that it was “stolen.”
It wasn’t.
He wasn’t placed in solitary – or the nut house – but he was Hut! Hut! Hutted! on the basis of nothing more substantive than a Flock camera’s “tip.”
Philip Dick, the sci fi writer, warned us about this decades ago in his novel, Minority Report. In the novel, though, the J’ accusing was at least done by humans, the three “pre-cogs” – and there had to be a majority of two of the three before the Hut! Hut! Hut!
Of course, the fundamental problem with these Flock cameras (aside from the grossly insulting name, which implies we’re sheep to be herded) is the underlying idea that it’s a good idea to surveil everyone, all the time – which is something that, in better times, was imposed only in high security areas and prisons. The contrary idea – the core essential of a free society – is that people ought to be trusted absent probable cause to not trust them. This does make it easier to people who abuse such trust to do just that – but it was once understood that it was worth it to accept that for the sake of not mistrusting everyone.
Constant surveillance is the hallmark of a low trust society in which we’re all suspects to be monitored. Suspects presumed guilty of . . . something. Which is also technically true since there are so many laws we’re all “guilty” of . . . something.
“Show me the man,” said Stalin’s favorite show-trial prosecutor, “and I will show you the crime.” Now it’s all of us on show. Just add the “crime.”
“Pending evaluation”
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Continue reading...
[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
If you want a glimpse into the future, here’s a look at our present.
A woman named Lindsey Isaac – who didn’t hit-and-run (much less kill anyone) – was recently Hut! Hut! Hutted! in extremis by Florida armed government workers because Flock told them she’d hit-and-run someone and fled the scene in her black Dodge Durango. As it later turned out, she just happened to be driving a few miles away from the scene – driving the same make/model vehicle as the one that actually did hit-and-run (and kill) someone.
Isaac was stopped at gunpoint, arrested on multiple felonies and held in solitary confinement for 86 hours, which is nearly four days straight. According to Isaac’s subsequent testimony, the Hut! Hut! Hutters! told her that putting her in solitary “was required because of the severity of the charges and pending evaluation.”
Don’t you just love the “pending evaluation” part? It’s the echo of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland, who famously screeched “sentence first! verdict afterward!”
The almost-four-days in solitary was just the beginning. Isaacs “was then moved to a mental-health unit for approximately 24 hours before being transferred to maximum-security housing, where she remained for the rest of her 13-day detention,” according to her testimony and reporting by The Center Square.
The Hut! Hut! Hutters! who felony stopped Isaacs were apparently not skeptical of the Flock camera’s index finger j’ accusing Isaacs, even though her Durango wasn’t damaged – which you’d think it would be if she’d just been involved in a wreck severe enough to smash up another vehicle and kill someone in the process. Nor did they notice that her Durango was not the same color as the one reported by the humans who witnessed the crash.
They just Flocked her up.
Eventually, it was all cleared up.
Prosecutors dropped all charges after it became undeniable she didn’t do what the Flock cameras led the Hut! Hut! Hutters! to believe she’d done. A later investigation identified another woman, Alisa Montalvo, as the suspected driver in connection with the crash, according to Fox 35.
Isn’t that special?
Isaacs has since filed a civil lawsuit against Florida Highway Patrol troopers and the agency, which she might win – but if she does, it’s the taxpayers who’ll pay. Not the Hut! Hut! Hutters! who subjected her to a felony stop at gunpoint, manacled her and placed her in solitary confinement solely on the basis of a “tip” from a Flock camera. They apparently made no effort to establish congruence between the Flock camera’s “tip” and Isaac’s vehicle which – remember – showed no damage. Nor was it the same color as reported by witnesses. Nor was it the only Durango in the area. Isaac’s was just one of several. The Dodge Durango is a common vehicle. If the hit-and-run had involved say a bright orange 1976 Trans-Am such as the one owned by this writer – which is probably the only bright orange ’76 Trans-Am in my state and definitely the only one in my county – then a Hut! Hut! Hutting! could be justified on the basis of that dusty old thing called probable cause, which no longer matters much in a country that has been Red Queened for years and is now being Flocked.
Sentence First! Verdict afterward! And not just that.
Investigate never!
Screenshot
That’s one of the problems with these Flock cameras. Like driver “assistance” technology, they inculcate passivity. The cops – the armed government workers – let the cameras do the “investigating.” What happened to Isaacs is not the only instance of such “investigation” – and Hut! Hut! Hutting! One of the many other instances involved a woman who was accused – on her doorstep – by a Hut! Hut! Hutter! of having porch-pirated someone else’s package. The Hut! Hut! Hutter! insisted she was guilty – because the cameras had recorded her vehicle in the neighborhood. In her neighborhood. Where she lives. It became her burden to prove her innocence – which she managed to do. Then there is the instance of the car journalist – a guy who does what I do, which is test drive and review new vehicles loaned for that purpose by the vehicle’s manufacturer. He got felony-stopped in the press vehicle he had been loaned by Land Rover to review because Flock “tipped” the Hut! Hut! Hutters! that it was “stolen.”
It wasn’t.
He wasn’t placed in solitary – or the nut house – but he was Hut! Hut! Hutted! on the basis of nothing more substantive than a Flock camera’s “tip.”
Philip Dick, the sci fi writer, warned us about this decades ago in his novel, Minority Report. In the novel, though, the J’ accusing was at least done by humans, the three “pre-cogs” – and there had to be a majority of two of the three before the Hut! Hut! Hut!
Of course, the fundamental problem with these Flock cameras (aside from the grossly insulting name, which implies we’re sheep to be herded) is the underlying idea that it’s a good idea to surveil everyone, all the time – which is something that, in better times, was imposed only in high security areas and prisons. The contrary idea – the core essential of a free society – is that people ought to be trusted absent probable cause to not trust them. This does make it easier to people who abuse such trust to do just that – but it was once understood that it was worth it to accept that for the sake of not mistrusting everyone.
Constant surveillance is the hallmark of a low trust society in which we’re all suspects to be monitored. Suspects presumed guilty of . . . something. Which is also technically true since there are so many laws we’re all “guilty” of . . . something.
“Show me the man,” said Stalin’s favorite show-trial prosecutor, “and I will show you the crime.” Now it’s all of us on show. Just add the “crime.”
“Pending evaluation”
Tweet
Continue reading...
[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
