I
have heard that saying before and found it kind of amusing.
But
there is another version that goes something like this: Just because
you are paranoid does not mean people are out to get you.
It
just means you are paranoid and perhaps you have an inflated sense of
self importance.
My
wife and I popped into a little restaurant for lunch a while back
when a small group of people came in following a GMO protest.
I
am hardly an expert on the whole modified food thing, but I support
the anti-GMO movement because man and his scientific brain can not
improve on what nature has already perfected.
How
can a beaker hugger in a lab make something better than nature
perfected millennia ago?
Why
do I need a genetically modified tomato when the one God made
thousands of years ago works just fine – always has.
I
don't need some weenie in a corporate sterile room messing around
with my apple so it will not go brown if it sits out too long. That
is what apples do, and have done for centuries with no harm to
mankind.
I
have read the whole thing is driven by massive corporations out to
make massive amounts of money. Now that, I believe. And of course the
Canadian political machine would never stand up to big business.
Anyway,
the Missus and I were having lunch when these people came in and
started talking about the protest.
"Ya,
I have had an unmarked police car parked in front of my house for
almost a month,” said one protester. “I guess someone doesn't
like what we are doing.”
Added
another, “I know, they have been tapping my phone for weeks now. I
guess they wanted to know what our plans were.”
I'm
sorry, but I just have a hard time believing the RCMP have nothing
better to do with their manpower than to keep personal watch over
someone organizing a protest they are legally allowed to hold.
The
government, police and secret spy agencies have much bigger fish to
fry, but these people were convinced the helicopter flying over the
protest – that attracted about 50 people – was taking secret
videos of them to add to some massive database.
Really?
With terrorists, drug gangs and all sorts of threats to our nation,
the government will allocate massive resources to keep watch over a
few people peacefully protesting?
Like
I said, somehow I doubt it.
I
recently dealt with one group that wanted publicity for their cause.
They sent the newsroom emails about it, asked we do a story on it,
but when I started contacting people on the list, no one wanted to go
on the record.
Then
why did you contact us in the first place if no one is willing to
talk about it?
I
spoke with half a dozen people, none of whom would give me any
comments and instead passed me along to someone else.
One
person said he would not talk to me because he did not know me and
sounded very suspicious that I was even a real reporter.
And
then these groups wonder why people have a hard time taking them
seriously.
But
we live in a free country where you can be as paranoid as you want,
you can believe government agents are camping out in the hedge in
front of your home and that there is a secret conspiracy aimed at
your cause.
Now
if you will excuse me, I have to put on my tinfoil hat to keep the
secret government mind-reading machine from accessing this column
before it is published.
Copyright 2014 Darren Handschuh
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