Elf on the Shelf: Herald of the Surveillance State?

Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 5 months ago to Politics
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Interesting article. Hadn't thought about it but I think it ties in to a number of things in our society that seem to me to be designed to condition people to accepting surveillance. Including hit tv shows like Person of Interest.

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  • Posted by $ Terraformer_One 9 years, 1 month ago
    I thought that the tv series 'Person of Interest' was a warning about the surveillance state.
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well except they really don't belong in the Navy. Maybe the Marine Corps. The only reason they were created is because the Navy realized it was irrelevant to the Vietnam war effort.
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well the Navy has been pretty much irrelevant to the war effort - actually any war effort - since 1945 so they need something to live for.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ran into a '69 Navy grad this afternoon at the grocery store. All he wanted to do was give me grief about the game. I told him "Thanks for your service" and walked away. Sheesh. You'd think there was nothing else in life that matters.
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No. but that's what they do all the time on cop shows like NCIS. It is conditioning us to be ok with it. Just so long as the bad guys are caught.
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well it might be more possible if the agents are allowed to break into any house they want without a warrant any time they want, hack into any computer or video system without a warrant anytime they want, etc. etc.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Mine got here around 1920. Now, if you tell me she wound up in the Detroit area, from Lublin this will get very creepy.
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Herb, my mom also came from Poland... Hrubeschov (sp?) at about age 10, too, around 1918! Yep, no bike helmets, no seat belts until the '60s and on and on. You got it. WE hadn't been pussified.... :)
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  • Posted by $ jdg 9 years, 5 months ago
    I would think it would have the opposite effect. At some point each of those kids will look at the elf and realize: (1) the elf doesn't really surveil anything; (2) even where cameras exist they're seldom looked at; (3) the whole notion of divine retribution (either Hell or karma) is completely phony; and (4) even government has trouble discovering or punishing most acts it forbids (and deserves to have that trouble). Now Junior is more than halfway to becoming one of us.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If you think my grandma was bad -- don't get me started on my mom. She came here from Poland at age 10, but plenty of old country stuff still stuck.
    We all survived, without bicycle helmets, and all the other stuff kids seem to require today in order to make it from day to day.
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  • Posted by $ Susanne 9 years, 5 months ago
    If I went to a friend's house with one of these cursed items on the shelf, I would seriously have to rethink said friendship carefully... In addition to the aquiesence to a surveillance state, it's also going yet another step in pushing off the parental responsibility to someone (or in this case, something) else...

    Not to mention the severe damage to a kids psyche of always being watched over... E-w-w-w-w...
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 5 months ago
    this is the surveillance state replacing God, knowing all --
    God is passé, and we owe our allegiance to the state,
    now, after all !!! -- j

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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Shit... now someone at SyFy will be thinking about some kind of SharkClausNado....
    Gack!
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    My mom said the water coming out of a rubber garden hose was poison, and I believed that almost as long as I believed Santa Claus was real.

    Mom said lots of things that weren't true. It was fun figuring out which ones were false. And I survived. And drink from garden hoses, too, when I'm thirsty and one's available.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
    I hate the Elf. If that isn't a way to condition children to live under surveillance, I'll eat one of them. In the personal experience realm, My Grandma had a rubber tree plant on her front porch that she treasured. When I was a little kid she warned me not to touch it, that it was poison and would make me very sick. Whenever she saw me anywhere near the @#$#% plant she would warn me off. I got to become fearful of the potted monster. For years I avoided getting anywhere near a potted plant. Today, I love my wife's garden, filled with flowers and beautiful bushes and shrubs -- but no potted plants. Some kids had nightmares about monsters under the bed or in the closet. My monsters were always plants that looked like rubber tree plants coming after me. When I was a teen, I went to see a movie about monster plants called "The Day Of The Triffids" and it was all I could do to keep from running out of the theater. So, watch out about the Shelf Elf, it could make your kids actually hate Christmas.
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  • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 5 months ago
    Ha ha CircuitGuy has it right: "The elf watches you secretly, reports it to Santa, and if Santa approves, he'll give you stuff without working for it."
    Being good is such hard work. Let the kids learn they get something for it. Then when they are older they will believe they are entitled, just because they didn’t steal it.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Your post just inspired me to think up a made for SiFi movie as I went to fetch an extra cup of coffee--
    Trolls Of Santa Claws: Merry Blood Mess
    (SiFi often has colon connected stupid flick titles).
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 5 months ago
    You guys are putting too much into this Elf. It is nothing more than a surrogate for one's own conscience. In fact, we should be teaching our children that they should be watching over themselves and looking at whether their actions would be viewed as "good" or not. The reward should be internal, but an external reward occasionally is nice as well.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 5 months ago
    Even worse than conditioning to surveillance, is the conditioning to perfect evidence and forensic proof that is irrefutable. Plus, being able to wrap up everything in an hour and tie it up with a pretty bow. Rarely is that the case, but juries nowadays expect that level of proof and certainty. Sheesh.
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