http://www.pledgebank.com/individual Comments on 'strive to be more of an individual and not just do what other people do' en-gb team@pledgebank.com 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 2 hourly http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_6527 Not to worry! Armin wants to be a slave that's all - either that or such entity must work for a coporate terrorist....more than half of the top 100 economies are in fact corporations. Boycott your corporatised economy today - RESIST SLAVERY TODAY! http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_3001 I will sign up to this with a little addition as follows if I might: part of being an individual is being original in lots of what you do and say, e.g for the latter - avoiding cliches and automatic machine-like responses. I have for this reason,on my own will stopped saying /writing /texting /mailing the 2 letters short for "okay". Sorry if this is too trivial for the pledge site ...so I promise not to suggest it as a pledge and really do something useful as well! http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2930 If we're pledging to be more of an individual but 400 other people are doing it doesn't that make us LESS of an individual? http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2921 I'm already doing it, and pretty much always have as long as I can remember (as most free-thinking intelligent people do, I reckon), but I'll sign up anyway. http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2788 I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO original right now! How liberating that absolutely no one else is doing this! Go! Big! Irony! http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2735 Don't Worry Just Woop! Woop! http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2698 (Apologies for being off topic, I realise this should really be over at the "refuse" or "resist" pledges, but... well, life, eh?) Armin: Sorry to take you to task on this, but I just couldn't let that pass without comment...largely because I think there's good evidence for believing - again, sorry for bluntness - that you are mistaken about every single point you made there. a) "ID cards will make life more convenient". How will they? For anything that you need ID for today - right down to proving your age to buy alcohol, etc - appropriate ID is already readily available. Current ID is also, incidentally, invariably a great deal cheaper at present than the increasingly soaring figure quoted as payable by individual citizens for ID under the new scheme. OK, so in a few rare cases (depending on personal circumstances) some people might have to carry more than one piece of paper in their wallets at present - but this is pretty rare (for the types of things the ID card is expected to work for), and in any case...so what? It's not exactly a hardship. b) "...perhaps even safer". You have *got* to be kidding! Independent (i.e. not Government and thus "on message") reviews of the scheme are pretty much in universal agreement that ID cards can't possibly make a difference to fighting terrorism or crime - terrorists will simply ignore the requirement entirely; criminals will simply (at best) turn to new types of crime, including more developed forms of identify theft. The cards are *pointless*, for anything at all except perhaps (in theory) for making the lives of civil servants a little easier - and again, in reality, probably not even that. This is a case of the Government needing to *appear* as if it's responding to terrorism and modern crime...whilst in reality merely chasing shadows and leaving the public to foot the enormous, unnecessary bill. c) "I do trust the British and EU governments that data safeguards, checks and balances will be adequate." Why do you? Their record is *appalling*! Quite apart from that, this is a complex public IT project...and the government has a nice track record of always screwing those up entirely (as well as drastically underestimating the costs involved). There is no reason whatsoever to think that this will be any different to their previous IT disasters - except of course that since the records will contain so much more personal information than ever before, the consequences of any problems or 'leaks' will be so much worse. Please, *please* don't just believe the New Labour spin on this. There is a lot of good, well researched information readily available out there, and you really do owe it to yourself to consider everything before making your decision. Many apologies for ranting at such length, particularly when this isn't really the place for it, but I just couldn't help myself... http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2665 I did not sign the pledge as I'm actually agreeing with the government's proposal. ID cards will make life more convenient, perhaps even safer. I do trust the British and EU governments that data safeguards, checks and balances will be adequate. http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2267 hello individuals, what's the right way: follow the shoe (yes, it's a sandal) or the gourd? Hell, I'll follow the shoe. Join me in the Way Of The Shoe http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2216 I'm not going to sign this pledge, on the grounds I wouldn't be an individual if I did http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2099 Mwahaha! I pretty much think I do my own thing anyway. I tend to think of myself as a cooperative individualist, as opposed to the competetive individualism promoted by the currently dominant authoritarian faction... ...individuality is more fun when mutually supportive. :) "Be excellent to each other. And party on dudes!" http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_2066 Individuallity is pretty overated - see 'Century of the Self' and other very good sources for reference. I don't think there's many important things that ever happen in the world due to one person's actions. http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1906 YeSSS wE aRe aLL INdIviDUALS 'Monty Python-life of Brian' http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1705 Does signing this pledge negate my right to remain an individual? http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1651 I am an individual, and I have an ID card to prove it ;¬) http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1557 Hello, Tom here from PledgeBank. Just thought you should all know that personally I think this pledge is pretty silly, and not really what PledgeBank is about at all - for a much better example try www.pledgebank.com/giveblood But we don't delete things on a whim, so here it is. If you'd like to help PledgeBank become a better, more useful site, why not help us? email volunteer@mysociety.org http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1495 I'll pledge to be more of an individual and not follow the crowd just like everyone here. http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_1292 If this pledge is successful, let's all get T-shirts that say we're going to be different! We could all wear them on the same day or something. http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_748 BRIAN: Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals! FOLLOWERS: Yes, we're all individuals! BRIAN: You're all different! FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different! DENNIS: I'm not. .(taken from the movie "Life of Brian") http://www.pledgebank.com/individual#comment_710 *laugh* Isn't it great irony? Signed up, though, I'm very interested to see what is believed to be individuality. ^-^ I'm sure a case can be made against any idea, though if this can be interpreted as "I'm not going to let my college/university professors say something dumb and not say anything." I'm in.