As the floodgates of diplomatic cables
has recently been unleashed via Wikileaks, I was inspired to do some
fresh perusing of the newly available files. Originally looking for
what the cables had to say about anarchists, I stumbled upon the following lines in a document
classified as "SECRET" under the subject heading "COMBATING
EXTREMISM IN GREECE":
Greek society also views enhanced police capabilities with a jaundiced eye. Greeks are hypersensitive to any perceived limits on personal freedoms; as an example, security cameras around town have been vandalized. Members of Parliament have also inveighed against their use; attempts to pass off the cameras as trafficams have been only partly successful.
While I knew the
Greeks were less tolerant than Americans of police abuses (since
police collaboration with the Nazi's in WWII), I found the phrasing
of these lines to be somewhat interesting. The Greeks aren't
described as vigilant about preserving their rights, they are rather
described as "hypersensitive." And the author seems to
lament that "attempts to pass off the cameras as trafficams have
been only partly successful." While this phrasing in
itself should be something of an embarrassment, it's somewhat telling
in how issues are presented and phrased. And, presumably, Americans
have fallen for the tactic of trying to pass off surveillance cameras
as trafficams.
