In today’s world of scandals and the government being totally out of control we sometimes get carried away with all sorts of stuff that just damages our cause of cutting big government down to size. Sure, we know that the NSA and CIA have consistently and probably illegally invade our privacy by monitoring a whole lot more than they should be. They are probably saving data for longer than they are supposed to and quite possibly violating the 4th amendment on a daily basis. So we know that stuff and while we are angry about it, we will simply have to wait until someone in Congress says that enough is enough. These are the type of things that we know are wrong and we can email and call our representatives and eventually get something done about it.
The problem occurs when folks start spouting about secret conspiracies that we really just don’t have any evidence of or that common sense and a bit of research tells us they are unlikely, we all look like a bunch of wackos. It only takes a single post or picture with a rumor about some agency being up to no good for the internet to explode with twitter, Facebook and Google+ traffic repeating the rumor.
Take for instance the supposed FEMA detention camps. Let us break down the rumor to what we really know. A logical place to start is with FEMA itself. The agency has about 7500 employees. Hardly enough to guard more than a few thousand folks. Besides that, most of those are desk-bound pencil pushers who make plans and write policy. You can also check out their blog where you will find such interesting subjects as; Fires ,Floods, Preparedness, Tsunamis. Sorry, but not a single mention of detention camps. Now of course that is the public blog, perhaps they have a secret one for employees only. Although you really have a lot of faith in humanity if you believe that 7500 people can keep a secret.
Now moving on to other things we should investigate is where are these secret camps located? It is sort of difficult to hide a detention facility considering that no matter how many trees are about you still need roads and construction workers to build these things, not to mention the fact that you can pretty much view the entire country from satellite images. For those about to say, well they don’t let Google show those images, I would like to point out that you can look at Area 51 all day long and zoom in and get a very nice view of the facilities. You can also see the government’s secret (not so secret) communications facility in Pennsylvania at the Raven Rock location. Before I would start believing this stuff I would need to see images (pictures) of these places with some map locations.
The next item is where is the proof of these policies? Let us assume for a minute that such policies exist. The question that then comes to mind is how would they going about rounding folks up? The local police don’t have the manpower for such an effort and neither does the military for that matter. Both are ill-equipped to be in the detention business and once again where are the memos and policy notes on how this would be accomplished? It is far too easy to copy a memo or simply scan it to PDF and email it or remove it from the office via usb thumb-drive in today’s world (ask Edward Snowden if you need to know how easy it is). To believe that such a policy exists and that so many of your fellow countrymen would be complicit in its execution and secrecy is simply being naive about human nature and the general American contempt for authority.
The last item is transportation. To round-up thousands of folks and ship them off would demand the use of railroads. Trucks and buses would take a lifetime to move large numbers of people long distances. That of course would mean that these camps would have to be near a railroad line. That means… you guessed it, they would be easy to find. So we are back to that question about where are these supposed camps?
In ending I can imagine some hard-core believers will say, “well don’t forget Nazi Germany and the Jews”. Well folks, that wasn’t a secret in Germany. People knew it was happening and because it wasn’t happening to the “germans” they just didn’t give a damn. Sure a few fought the system, but, by and large they lived in a 100% dictatorship where fighting the system was difficult because the citizenry wasn’t armed so they just looked the other way.
Lets concentrate on reducing the size of government and removing the long-term Washington, DC corruption club members of Congress. Lets keep better track of what our Congress is doing and stop them from doing anything that violates our rights. Lets shrink government and until the government starts passing laws to confiscate guns lets not waste our time on the detention camp myth.
For those who are still believers here is a site typical of those I looked at, along with the incorrect information they have published:
This one is called “The Location of Concentration Camps in America” Pretty scary title, but full of incorrect information such as;
- EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports. Simply not true, Executive order 10990 was signed by John F. Kennedy in February of 1962 and pertains to Reestablishment of the Federal Safety Council. Click here to read it.
- EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media. Not at all true. This order, signed by John F. Kennedy in February 1962 pertains to assigning frequencies , “ which will satisfactorily serve the national security; sustain and contribute to the full development of world trade and commerce; strengthen the position and serve the best interests of the United States in negotiations with foreign nations; and permit maximum use of resources through better frequency management”. Click here to read it.
- EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons. This one was signed by JFK also.While the title is accurate, the order itself isn’t very sinister. It has to do with the Postmaster being able to get your mail to you when you are relocated due to a disaster or a war. There isn’t anything scary about this one. Click here to read it.
- EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency….blah,blah (it goes on forever). Signed by Gerald Ford in June 1976 and none of what is stated previously is true. The order doesn’t even mention FEMA. Click here to read it.
I won’t even bother with the rest. Suffice to say that if you need to look up an executive order you can check it at the American Presidency Project. Virtually every site I looked up had similar information and links to other sites where the the information was just as incorrect. I was unable to find any current images or exact locations of these mythical camps. (the one at the head of this article is a Japanese-American Internment camp from WWII).
You may now return to your regularly scheduled surfing.
Tim
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