Opting Out and Paying the Price of Being Awake

November 21, 2012 

Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer
Waking Times
 
At the very core of a revolution lies the radical transformation of the individual, which is ear-marked by the dissolution of fear of the consequences for speaking and acting in accordance with good conscience.
More people are starting to awaken to the realities of our world – the good: human energies, medicinal properties of plants, the power of meditation, universal consciousness – the bad: the assault on natural health, genetically-modified foods, chemtrails, electromagnetic pollution – and the ugly: toxic disasters, deforestation, corruption, greed, endless war, cancer.

With this awakening comes greater awareness of the role that an individual’s acquiescence to intrusions on personal liberty plays in supporting the system.  The awakening process naturally compels one into developing the courage to risk inconveniences like expulsion, humiliation, arrest, fines and jail-time, or worse, in order to live in a accordance with principle and common sense. Courageous non-compliance to ridiculous government edicts and rules, as well as to the opinion’s of others, is the highest form of protest, but often carries penalties, both social and legal.

So, what price are some paying for being ‘awake?’

Expulsion and Loss of Opportunity
Implementation of location tracking radio-frequency ID (RFID) technology has been underway for many years now, with governments putting RFID chips into passports, vehicle registration stickers and license plates, medical institutions using these chips on infants and Alzheimer’s patients, and corporations using RFID to track employees and inventory. Often the reasons given for the implementation of this technology are security and increased efficiency. Yet, many are justifiably concerned that RFID can and is already being used to compromise our civil liberties and invade personal privacy.

“With tags in so many objects, relaying information to databases that can be linked to credit and bank cards, almost no aspect of life may soon be safe from the prying eyes of corporations and governments”. - Mark Rasch, former head of the computer-crime unit of the U.S. Justice Department (Seattle Times)

Schools, such as Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio, Texas, are starting to use RFID-equipped ID badges to stay aware of students’ locations while they are on campus in an effort to reduce truancy and tardiness. Yet, students are standing up for their right to privacy. Andrea Hernandez, sophomore at NISD’s John Jay High School, is a great example; she has refused to wear the RFID badge.

“What we’re teaching kids is that they live in a total surveillance state and if they do not comply, they will be punished. There has to be a point at which schools have to show valid reasons why they’re doing this.” – John Whitehead, civil liberties lawyer and founder of the Rutherford Institute (ZDnet.com)

Andrea Hernandez is being expelled from John Jay HS and her program at the Science and Engineering Academy. Her father, Steven Hernandez, objects to his daughter wearing the tracking device, citing Biblical concerns. He compares the RFID cards to the “mark of the beast” in the Book of Revelation.

Publicly criticizing the school in this way has prompted school officials to offer immunity to his daughter if Mr. Hernandez would in turn hush up and stop encouraging others to stand up to this Orwellian policy. They offered to remove the chip from Andrea’s card in exchange for the family to end its criticism of the “Student Locator Program.”

“[A]s part of the accommodation my daughter and I would have to agree to stop criticizing the program and publicly support … it. I told [the Deputy Superintendent] that was unacceptable because it would imply an endorsement of the district’s policy and my daughter and I should not have to give up our constitutional rights to speak out against a program that we feel is wrong.” – Steven Hernandez (InfoWars.com)

In this case, a bright young high school kid is risking being expelled from school, the bravery and astuteness of Andrea Hernandez and her family has inspired many others in her school district to speak out – 300 more students now refuse to wear the RFID badges and about 700 more have signed a petition opposing the use of RFID-equipped badges, giving reasons such as religious beliefs and concerns about civil liberties and personal privacy.

Unjust Criminal Punishment and Public Humiliation
There is a growing concern among the American public about the use of increasingly invasive and potentially harmful body scanners at airports, and the lack of unbiased third-party testing on the potential dangers of using these scanners. This is doubled by the growing abuses conducted by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was created to oversee airport security in the US after 9-11.

We are writing to call your attention to serious concerns about the potential health risks of the recently adopted whole body backscatter X-ray airport security scanners. This is an urgent situation as these X-ray scanners are rapidly being implemented as a primary screening step for all air travel passengers. Our overriding concern is the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has been adequately demonstrated. - Doctors John Sedat Ph.D., David Agard, Ph.D., Marc Shuman, M.D., Robert Stroud, Ph.D., all of whom are faculty at the University of California, San Francisco (Natural News)
Created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the TSA was charged with providing effective and efficient security for passenger and freight transportation in the United States. It has since become one of the Department of Homeland Security’s most visible and costly means of clamping down on Americans domestically, boasting an $8 billion annual budget and a roster of employees that includes TSOs (or airport screeners). – Canada Free Press

Worries about harmful radiation, virtual strip searches, inappropriate “pat downs” and molestations, theft of personal items, and the verbal abuse of the traveling public, are resulting in regular citizens speaking up for their rights.

TSA claims you have the right to refuse scans, however, it has become clear that opting out exposes one to more ‘invasive’ treatment, which, in some cases, leads to delayed travel, embarrassment, charged emotions and anger, or even arrest and prosecution.

This is what happened to Andrea Fornella Abbott, who recently was found guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced to one year of probation for standing up for her 14-year old daughter’s rights and not allowing TSA screeners to ‘pat-down’ or touch the child.

The common sensical act of not permitting strangers to put their hands on the private parts of her teenage daughter comes with a price tag, however, it also lights the way for others who’s intuition is already telling them that we are in grave danger of become a new breed of highly obedient slaves.

Just like Andrea, many travelers have already paid the price for being awake and standing up for their rights and beliefs. As the world transforms around us and we enter the age of enlightenment, many more students, employees, drivers and regular citizens will jeopardize their comfort and convenience, be publically humiliated, or disrupt their daily lives in order to spark a revolution. Movements, such as TSA opt-out week taking place during this Thanksgiving week, will give more individuals the confidence to stand up to tyranny, despite threats of retaliation by TSA, and pursue life with renewed awareness of the power of the individual, at whatever cost.

There is no single grand act that can bring about a revolution, only a thousand daily unsung acts of individual courage can do that.

What price are you paying for being ‘awake’ during the waking times?’