Samstag, 18. April 2009
"Safety is a lie"
pete76, 11:58h
This is not my personal opinion, to begin with. En contraire - as the french say. Well - at least I oppose a little to the above mentioned "slogan".
Some days ago I saw this line graffity tagged onto the encasement of a generator of some sort. The encasement, on purpose, is made of rusty metal plates and belongs to the sciencecenter in Bremen. That's where we'd find - if we looked for it - the so called "Universum" - a permanent sciencefair of highest quality. This fair is just across my faculty at the University of Bremen, where I dare to study law. But let's forget about that little fact for a moment.
The slogan is sprayed in bright yellow which seems to be autoluminicent when the sun's angle is right. Anyway, that little line made me ponder...
... first of all, why would a sprayer choose this line? Why not his fave tag to promote his gang. Why not a shallow 'X - i love you', where x is to be substitued by any name given. No. The person, seemingly enjoying to tag generator encasements, chose this message.
I have to admit, that the environment this tag was made in, tends to be of that kind. Against the system - against the government - agreeing to disagree with alomst anything and everything. I don't say, that I dislike the tendencies of my fellow students to utter their political messages in any way they deem necessary. Except maybe for the fact, that graffity is considered a delinquency in Germany.
But sprayers aren't usually the kind of folk you consider as "deep". Usually they tag trains, trams, buildings etc. with some mindless pictures. Then again - some pictures may actually be considered real and valuable art.
Back to the topic at hand: "Safety is a lie". When I first read this slogan, I identified it as a political message - of course. With discussions running wild about the "BigBrother" state of Orwellian Dimensions, this MUST be a political message.
I pondered about this message for quite some time. I have to travel quite a bit to get to my faculty. Mostly I travel by car, tram and train which takes about 1.5 hours for one tour - so there's plenty of to think.
I came to the conclusion, that safety can be a lie. A bad lie. A lie on the fringe of being a felony of the worst sort. But as to the status quo, I disagree. I like being back in germany (I've spent quite some time abroad) - I like walking the streets in the evening or at night - coming out of the cinema or theatre - with a feeling of safety. I learned quite early that safety is fragile. Safety can be whiped away by nothing more than the tender squeeze of a trigger.
But I presume, that that's not what this message wants to convey. Its rather a call of duty for the all-obeying sheepish herd of citizens, bearing every cut into their private and personal rights as if THAT would be normal. Have you traveled lately within in the EU? Even on national flights you will have to take in the scrutinies of "safety". As if a swipe with a cotton pad could prevent anything - but... may be it can.
So "Safety" is not a lie. Safety is neccessary and for public safety we have to take in the hassle on airports and the fact that some of the "sheep-herd" are suspiciously glancing, from the corner of their eyes, at tram passengers talking arabic or being of a different skin tone. Beware! Even a harsh sunburn could let them identify yourself as a thread to national security.
I am a foreigner myself - in almost every country on this planet. And though I am - officially - a german citizen, there are times, when I feel as a alien in "my" own country. These times are mainly falling to
Some days ago I saw this line graffity tagged onto the encasement of a generator of some sort. The encasement, on purpose, is made of rusty metal plates and belongs to the sciencecenter in Bremen. That's where we'd find - if we looked for it - the so called "Universum" - a permanent sciencefair of highest quality. This fair is just across my faculty at the University of Bremen, where I dare to study law. But let's forget about that little fact for a moment.
The slogan is sprayed in bright yellow which seems to be autoluminicent when the sun's angle is right. Anyway, that little line made me ponder...
... first of all, why would a sprayer choose this line? Why not his fave tag to promote his gang. Why not a shallow 'X - i love you', where x is to be substitued by any name given. No. The person, seemingly enjoying to tag generator encasements, chose this message.
I have to admit, that the environment this tag was made in, tends to be of that kind. Against the system - against the government - agreeing to disagree with alomst anything and everything. I don't say, that I dislike the tendencies of my fellow students to utter their political messages in any way they deem necessary. Except maybe for the fact, that graffity is considered a delinquency in Germany.
But sprayers aren't usually the kind of folk you consider as "deep". Usually they tag trains, trams, buildings etc. with some mindless pictures. Then again - some pictures may actually be considered real and valuable art.
Back to the topic at hand: "Safety is a lie". When I first read this slogan, I identified it as a political message - of course. With discussions running wild about the "BigBrother" state of Orwellian Dimensions, this MUST be a political message.
I pondered about this message for quite some time. I have to travel quite a bit to get to my faculty. Mostly I travel by car, tram and train which takes about 1.5 hours for one tour - so there's plenty of to think.
I came to the conclusion, that safety can be a lie. A bad lie. A lie on the fringe of being a felony of the worst sort. But as to the status quo, I disagree. I like being back in germany (I've spent quite some time abroad) - I like walking the streets in the evening or at night - coming out of the cinema or theatre - with a feeling of safety. I learned quite early that safety is fragile. Safety can be whiped away by nothing more than the tender squeeze of a trigger.
But I presume, that that's not what this message wants to convey. Its rather a call of duty for the all-obeying sheepish herd of citizens, bearing every cut into their private and personal rights as if THAT would be normal. Have you traveled lately within in the EU? Even on national flights you will have to take in the scrutinies of "safety". As if a swipe with a cotton pad could prevent anything - but... may be it can.
So "Safety" is not a lie. Safety is neccessary and for public safety we have to take in the hassle on airports and the fact that some of the "sheep-herd" are suspiciously glancing, from the corner of their eyes, at tram passengers talking arabic or being of a different skin tone. Beware! Even a harsh sunburn could let them identify yourself as a thread to national security.
I am a foreigner myself - in almost every country on this planet. And though I am - officially - a german citizen, there are times, when I feel as a alien in "my" own country. These times are mainly falling to
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Die Frage ist doch...
pete76, 11:36h
...ob die Bezeichnung "Omni modo" phonetisch nicht zu sehr ins Gehege mit "Quasimodo" kommt. Ich versichere an dieser Stelle, dass ich nicht, bucklig-sabbernd, mit meinem letzten guten Finger auf eine Kirchenglocke zeige um dann - gleich Gollum nach einer Nacht des Kettenrauchens - zu röcheln: "Dieeee Gloooocke!". Ehrlich nicht.
Omni modo kommt aus dem Strafrecht und heisst soviel wie "unter allen Umständen". Der Ausdruck ist etwas negativ gefärbt, aber ich möchte hier nicht über Strafrechtsdogmatiken schreiben - dazu gibt es zu viele andere Dinge, über die man schreiben kann.
Frage gestellt - Frage beantwortet. Omni modo ist kein Blog für Glöckner. Jedenfalls nicht für jene von Notre Dame.
Omni modo kommt aus dem Strafrecht und heisst soviel wie "unter allen Umständen". Der Ausdruck ist etwas negativ gefärbt, aber ich möchte hier nicht über Strafrechtsdogmatiken schreiben - dazu gibt es zu viele andere Dinge, über die man schreiben kann.
Frage gestellt - Frage beantwortet. Omni modo ist kein Blog für Glöckner. Jedenfalls nicht für jene von Notre Dame.
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