EcoSnoops - a Home for the Tattletales of Society

EcoSnoops Mission statement:

EcoSnoop's mission is to help our communities heighten awareness of opportunities to be more green, save energy, improve treatment of animals, and even fill pot holes. Leveraging the power of the community, EcoSnoops use the web or their phones to capture clear pictures of a problem and post these pictures on a community website so that building owners and others can take action.

There is also a statement:

EcoSnoop is not about picking sides in the environmental or climate change debate. EcoSnoop helps identify opportunities for making improvements that help companies and people reduce cost, waste and inefficiency. McKinsey Consulting has identified Energy Efficiency as the best and cheapest form of energy. Energy Efficiency often payback quickly, putting cash into our pockets to use for things we would rather do. Just as many people did not know what to use a personal computer for in the early 80's, so to do many people not realize how much energy can be saved in their daily life.

For those that feel strongly that climate change is man made, EcoSnoop offers the least costly method for reducing carbon emission - Energy Efficiency. For those that believe dependence on foreign sources of energy puts a nations security at risk, EcoSnoop offers the least costly method for reducing dependency on foreign sources - Energy Efficiency.

The Hound - OK, I have been fair and placed a link with a mission statement and an explanation of what EcoSnoops purports to be about. I have even been known to go around this city and film scenes of buildings where there are problems, but only as a manner to show where I see hypocrisy when it comes to code enforcement. What I see here is what can be construed as one of the major problems facing our country today. Government feeling that all property belongs to them and private property owners only have custodial rights granted at the behest of Big Brother Government.

What has happened to our country? It is this type of impersonal mentality that creates walls between human interaction and bonding. This reminds me of elementary school, when the teacher would set someone up at the chalkboard to take names when they would leave the room. Would that person not always go on a power trip? Was it closer akin to justice or a kangaroo court?

We have abdicated our rights to Big Brother Government and no longer value human interaction or consideration for the rights of our neighbors. It is all about ones personal relationship with the government and this is what has created the "Nanny State." This is exactly the vision espoused by George Orwell in the book 1984.

Is it not my right to burn lights in my house if I want to at the time of day of my choosing, as long as I pay my bills? These people want to tell you what to do with your property. It will start out docile, as a "suggestion," as a method of conditioning, but eventually you know the sanctions are coming. This is what I have been talking about. This is what I have been preaching.



This lady is telling you to snap a picture with your Iphone and the application will automatically send it to God knows who and it will use a GPS tracker to send individuals to your property to "suggest" ways that you can be more eco-friendly. She talks about filing complaints and reporting offenses. She talks about collecting data of past offenses, publicizing cases, and getting others involved. Joseph Goebbels would be so proud.

When are people going to stand up for individual rights? Is it necessary to continuously head down this path? We have been down this road throughout human history and it never turns out well. Let's stop this before it gets out of control. It is one thing, if someone is harming you, but it is another to overtly harass people over their private property.

I understand that code enforcement is a balancing act, because sometimes people don't take care of their property and it affects yours, and they won't do anything to resolve the problem. But, we all know the difference between real issues and busy-body, nagging, never happy neighbors. It is time to delineate between the two through a common sense approach. We don't need third parties tattling on others. If you have a problem, don't take out the Iphone to Snoop, take it out to call the person you have the problem with and have a moment of human bonding. If it isn't worth this initial approach, then it's a non-issue anyway. Liberty isn't easy. It's something we have to work at every day.