#SocialMedia: Inspector Gadget and Satyagraha

This week saw the demise of Inspector Gadget (see below), now ‘followers’ and even the mainstream media are asking – Did he jump or was he pushed?

Gadget’s blog was active for seven years and enjoyed some 13M+ hits, more popular even than some political and/or media blogs and hardly the popularity expected of some ‘fringe’ commentator or “silly” author, as Gadget was once described by the then Policing Minister Nick Herbert.

Although his musings were often a little caustic, some would say bordering upon ranting, I for one would suggest the closing of his social media accounts will be a great loss to both the police and the public alike…

One of the best-known anonymous police bloggers and tweeters has ceased writing after seven years of providing a sometimes irreverent officers eye view of the world of policing – at a time when officers who blog or tweet unofficially are coming under increasing pressure to give up their activities…(guardian.co.uk)

But why did Gadget start blogging? As The Monday Books Blog (below) pointed out; we now live  in an era when many senior coppers are more adept at spin than in catching serious criminals. A factor that was probably the initial spark for Gadget and one that became clear after attending a training seminar.

He said it was “60 mind-numbing minutes of complete nonsense” but it was also his love of and for ‘the job’ that was always behind his comment. That and a desire to explain to those he served (the public), what was happening to their police service and why.

Inspector Gadget – Officer Down: …This country’s police were once the envy of the world; now they struggle to retain the confidence of their own people and have long since lost the support and confidence of the British public…(The Thin Blue Line Blog)

As Gadget et al continually pointed out, much to the annoyance of their senior officers and politicians alike; our British policing system is now “weighed down by political correctness, burdensome targets, excessive paperwork, non-core police activity and incessant government tinkering”.

Few blogs last anything like that long – certainly not when they’re updated two or three times a week…(The Monday Books Blog)

There are fewer officers than ever before on our streets. Policing still requires a root and branch overhaul – not the piecemeal structural reform so beloved of successive governments. As many have pointed out previously and I include myself here; “there needs to be a cultural rejuvenation that restores to trained professionals the freedom to take their own decisions”, obviously within the law. The following strap line to Gadget’s blog was chosen with good reason.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing…(Edmund Burke)

Four days ago Gadget wrote what I believe was his final post - George Dixon wouldn’t have stood for this crap – in it he wrote; ”Here, as Rodgers and Hammerstein once wrote, are some of my favourite things… Favourite Colour: Blue Favourite Book: 1984, George Orwell. Favourite Film: The Great Escape Overall Favourite Quote: “I am no Inspector Gadget” Tim Godwin OBE QPM, Dep Commissioner, Met Police . Favourite Quote about me: “He is not an Inspector” Nick Herbert.”

Those close to the Gadget say “he has grown frustrated at the cuts to the police service and feels he is unable to enact any change through his writing.” It is not known whether he has been directly warned by senior officers in his force however; he’s actually quit at a time when several officers tweeting under pseudonyms say they are being intimidated off social media by their bosses.

 

Too many senior police officers, politicians and business managers espouse continually about supporting  openness honesty and freedom of speech for their employees however; it appears comment is only ever allowed freely when it tows the corporate line and certainly never if it appears to question the capability and ethics of the organisational leadership. If this is true and I suspect it is, this is not only a worrying trend but also, it flies in the face of recent and much heralded changes to government policy designed to protect public sector whistleblowers.

Whistleblowing legislation is to be overhauled and a government consultation held to investigate whether the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 is failing to protect those who speak out from being victimised, harassed and even sacked by their employers…(guardian.co.uk)

Social media platforms can be very powerful tools and should always be used responsibly. Over recent years there have been many people, for whatever reason, use social media as a platform for their rantings and defamatory, discriminatory or malicious purposes. Social media has given a louder voice to the individual however; there is a fine line between acceptable and improper use and behaviour.

A political blogger who sparked online uproar after being arrested for filming a council hearing has been ordered to pay £25,000 in libel damages to a council’s chief executive over what the high court described as an “unlawful campaign of harassment, defamation and intimidation”…(guardian.co.uk)

Most professional people acknowledge the fact that in sensitive jobs like the police, military and healthcare, Twitter and Facebook needs to be used with the greatest of care. It’s one of the reasons why so many have individuals have feared using it and why so many organisations still frown upon its use by their employees however; it is possible to make social media work professionally. Every organisation needs to understand the implications of social media and have a policy about how it should be used.

I have read the ACPO guidelines on social media use for police officers so you don’t have to. I totally get the operational and personal security stuff. Let me summarise my views on the rest for you. It is the people who make and implement stupid decisions who damage public confidence, not the people who write about it…(Inspector Gadget)

In 1921 C.P. Scott, Editor of The Guardia.n at the time said “Comment is free but facts are sacred” – we all have an entitlement to our opinion, shouldn’t those comments be listened to (and acted upon) when they’re delivered by someone who knows/understands what they are talking about and are based upon fact?

Individuals and/or organisations should have no fears about social media, so long as it is being used properly and factually however; what they do need to worry about is having their ineptitude exposed because of it.

Perhaps a few more of us should try to adopt a little of Gandhi‘s methodology and insist on some truth – the Satyagraha ethos - ”be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Related articles

• Police blogger quits as officers come under pressure over unofficial tweets (guardian.co.uk)
• Farewell, Inspector Gadget (mondaybooks.wordpress.com)
• UK Cop Shuts Down Social Media Accounts, Citing Official Pressure (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• Social Media and Blogging…. (inspjulietbravo.wordpress.com)

Down on Animal Farm with my brother and a bloke called Watt

I have to admit, my younger brother and I haven’t always seen eye to eye over the years, we probably still don’t on many things however; thanks to him throwing down a proverbial gauntlet, I have been coerced into blogging about someone called Alan Watt? Until now, I’d never even bloody heard of him…

Apparently, Alan Watt (as opposed to Alan Watts 1915-1973) is “a long-term researcher into the causative forces behind major changes in historical development.”

Born in Scotland but having subsequently moved to the USA, Watt says he “watched the subtleties of politics and media as they guided the population of the U.K. covertly into a European Amalgamation” (see bio at his website). Watt devotes most of his time trying to open the closed eyes and minds inherent within our society.

In all ages, in all lands, there have been those who seek truth. This seeking is an individual’s search for something more than self, and much more than the confines of this worldly system. It is the seeker, who understands there is more than what meets the eye, who is not afraid and makes the choice to go into the unknown…(Alan Watt)

Despite (hopefully) being something of an open-minded thinker (despite what my brother has often alleged when reading my blog), Alan Watt and his views on society had never featured in my reading or listening lists. In the following clip Alan Watt offers an explanation of the complexities behind the deception of the established reality in our society.

…in an age of disinformation and misinformation, there are those who have dedicated their lives to help those who wish to know more about TRUTH and the actual Reality. USE cuttingthroughthematrix.com as a resource for actual information.

Now I wouldn’t necessarily venture to look on this ‘newly found information’ as some form of ’enlightenment’ per se however; Watt (and also my brother to an extent) attribute many of today’s social ills to some form of previous ‘conspiracy’ theory, one that suggests an element of engineered social programing.

They subscribe to a range of views that suggest, for centuries, our world has been dominated by an elite with an inherent desire to control the remainder of us. The long-held but covert aim of a ‘selected’ breed or class of people who are now finally witnessing the ‘reality’ of all their ’vision’ and desires.

After my initial research and because of that inherent cynicism that normally lurks within me, my immediate reaction was; Watt is a latter-day Watts, he even looks similar…

Perhaps he’s another one of those people who set themselves up in a mirror image of someone else for monetary reasons? An efficient and polished orator who professes a great deal of theoretical clap-trap. The sort of stuff that unfortunately, is lapped up by many gullible Americans who will pay top dollar for it? Another one of those distasteful but often succesful religion pedlar types, perhaps?

Or better still, are these the thoughts of some modern-day George Orwell? A person who is simply producing an Animal Farm preamble prior to publication of his own new version of Nineteen Eighty-Four. After all, why couldn’t Cutting Through The Matrix form the basis of the next classic dystopian novel on the subject of totalitarianism?

Although (arguably) fitting many of their thoughts on causation factors, in my opinion the state of our society has more to do with an evolutionary process. I remain unconvinced as to the intentional social engineering.

For centuries but even more prevalent in recent decades, our society has allowed the proliferation of self-interested and greedy individuals. Aristotle said: “The avarice of mankind is insatiable” and these are the type of people we are promoting. Individuals who have no qualms about squashing anyone who is perceived to be standing in their way, metaphorically or physically.

We have gone even further by constantly awarding that avarice in people whilst conversely, we mostly pay lip-service to the values and attributes of those who serve others. In short, desires for grotesque levels of personal financial wealth are at the root of all our problems. It is also why we see so many of these types of people at the very top of our governments, and the powerful commercial organisations who are supporting them and their politics.

Returning to the thoughts of Watt, he is correct in several of his observations; mankind has a tendency towards apathy and in addition to that, is not very adept at dealing with constant problems and/or trauma. Whether or not our leaders have “intentionally exploited” this inherent trait, or “engineered crisis” to keep us all “living in fear” and make us all “subservient to them” over the years is something of a moot point.

People who believe in these ‘conspiracy theories’ also tend to show tendencies towards anarchy, violent or peaceful, simply out of desperation. In my opinion democracy is still the correct answer but for it to work, you actually have to engage in the process. It is puerile to simply sit bemoaning the negative impacts upon your life and then also, posses an apathetic approach to every opportunity you get to make your voice be heard. But even democracy can often fail us.

Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy]. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide… John Adams (President USA 1797-1801)

This failure is usually born out of continually allowing ‘the few’ to impose their desires and beliefs upon the majority, another one of those chicken and egg scenarios, one that will never be cured by an apathetic approach. Neither will it all be remedied by those who simply sit and cry out ”I told you so!”

The one thing that can and does make a difference to this ever tightening restrictive cyclic process (hopefully before it implodes) is; by opening our eyes and our minds and starting to think for ourselves, we should always be able to beat those who seek to control us for their own purpose!

At this point I’m reminded of that analogical but timely story, one that is often prevalent within the uniformed services. Although used predominantly in the armed forces and emergency services, it could also be applied to politics and more every day situations…

A Senior Officer says to his subordinate: “You will do as I say or I’ll  put you on a charge” the subordinate thinks for a moment and then replies; “Sir, if I said you were an idiot you would discipline me wouldn’t you? The officer replies in the affirmative. The subordinate pauses again and then says; “but if I just thought you were an idiot, you couldn’t do much about it, could you?” The officer slightly flustered agrees then, as the subordinate turns to walk away the officer hears him say; “I think you’re a bloody idiot!”

No one can control what you think, unless you allow them to do so!