Bjorn made a few more attempts to change his profile at the Blacklist, but there were simply no way to change anything of significance. At best, he could change his name, but his real name would still be listed as one of his nicknames. There was no way to get rid of his real name, and no way to get rid of his contact details. His initial feeling of shock on discovering that he was stuck, gradually morphed into a lingering irritation with the site. Its refusal to let him remove his profile was in such blatant disregard of generally accepted rules. Surely, he had the right to remove his profile. Refusing him this right was clearly against the law.
The Blacklist, claiming to support the law of the so called empire, was breaking his right to privacy, and Bjorn found this both ironic and arrogant to the extreme. He looked around on the page in front of him to see if he could find out who might be the responsible owner. And there, at the bottom of the page he found a link to someone called Vinod. "That's it!" Bjorn thought to himself. "Now, let's sue him for everything he got!"
Bjorn clicked on the link, and somewhat to his surprise, he was not sent to a different site. He was simply presented with Vinod's profile on the Blacklist. It was reminiscent of Maria's profile in that it was rich in text and complete with a picture of Vinod himself, an Indian looking guy, proudly presenting himself as the owner and developer of the Blacklist.
Going down to the list at the bottom of Vinod's profile, Bjorn saw that the man had already managed to get himself into a dispute with three users over a privacy issue, and sensing that this dispute might be related to what he himself was going to write, Bjorn clicked on the case.
Bjorn read quickly through the complaint, which was marked as resolved, and realized that it was in fact identical to what he was planning to post. Bjorn was not the only one frustrated with the fact that he could not remove his profile. The three plaintiffs were just as frustrated with Vinod as Bjorn was. But the plaintiffs had lost the case. Maria had closed it with a remark saying that there is no such thing as a right to privacy.
Bjorn could hardly believe his eyes, but there it was. Maria had come out in favor of Vinod, and had closed the case. Bjorn moved his mouse over the status field and saw to his surprise that he could re-open the issue. Bjorn clicked on it and was presented with a comment field where he was required to make a legal argument, disputing Maria's closing argument.
"Oops, I'm getting ahead of myself again," Bjorn thought, panicky and closing the comment field almost as soon as it had popped up. "I better not do anything rash." Then he proceeded to read Maria's closing argument in detail.
"There is no such thing as a right to privacy," it read. "There are only property rights, and the data typed into the Blacklist are residing on Vinod's server, and are therefore Vinod's property. The so called right to privacy is actually a feature of property rights, and not a right in itself. Every person has an absolute right to privacy in their own home, because they have an absolute right to their property. The right to privacy cannot extend to other people's property, unless contractually extended by the rightful owner of said property. But Vinod has not extended such a right to the users of his website. In fact, everyone opening an account at the Blacklist had to agree to the conditions that explicitly stated that all data stored on the Blacklist belongs to the owner of the Blacklist. All data stored on the Blacklist belongs to Vinod. He can do with it what he pleases. And that includes his refusal to delete it."
Bjorn read Maria's comment with a sinking feeling of loss. He had indeed checked off on the warning when he in all haste opened his account, foolishly thinking that it was of little or no consequence. But he knew, even then, that the Blacklist was no ordinary website. He just assumed that it had to abide by the generally accepted rules and laws governing the internet. As it turned out, his assumption was wrong, and now that he had read Maria's final argument, it was evident that Vinod was not obliged to change the way the website worked, at least not according Maria's legal standards.
Bjorn moved the mouse over the list of plaintiffs. Then, as he let the marker hover over their names, a comment box appeared. "This case is close, but you can still join the plaintiffs if you agree with their case," it read. "Well, that's one way to register my dissatisfaction with the system," Bjorn thought. He clicked on the list. Then, when asked if he wanted to join the plaintiffs, he responded by clicking the OK button.
Showing posts with label maria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maria. Show all posts
Friday, February 13, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
180
Bjorn finished his ham sandwich and poured himself another cup of coffee. "So this woman would argue against me," he thought, bringing the coffee to his lips. "So what? Who does she think she is anyway."
Bjorn felt the weight of the automatic pistol on his lap, and he put his free hand on it to feel its cold metal. "She has no authority," he thought, smiling to himself as that word authority appeared in his mind. For was it not the case that she was in fact arguing against herself. Her argument implied that she herself had no authority. She could argue as much as she wanted, but who would come to arrest him?
"The Blacklist is a joke," Bjorn thought. "I can't believe that I'm taking this seriously. After all, it takes a great deal more to establish a legal system than setting up a website." But Bjorn could not escape the fact that quite a few people, including Jan and Pedro, were in fact taking the Blacklist seriously, so if he were to get blacklisted, it could make it difficult, if not impossible, to enter the village without being harassed or otherwise inconvenienced.
But it was not like Bjorn was going to shoot anyone. The pistol on his lap was a defensive weapon, meant for his protection only. If he spotted someone trying to escape the village by foot, he was simply to report this, and the escapees would be picked up by the police in Neiden. Similarly, if some desperado was to ram a truck through the barrier, it too would be reported to Neiden where the truck would be stopped.
However, now that he had been promoted to the status of customs officer, Bjorn would from time to time have to stop smugglers and confiscate their wares. And Bjorn suspected that such confiscations would qualify as theft in Maria's eyes. The smugglers might in other words try to get back at him by blacklisting him, burdening him with the inconvenience of a mock trial. Bjorn did not think that such a trial would come to anything. He was after all warning people of the change in rules, so it was not like things were happening out of the blue. Maria might in fact end up agreeing with him, saying that the smugglers were forewarned, and that they had no case. But even the vague prospect of a conflict felt uncomfortable.
Bjorn suddenly regretted having registered himself with the Blacklist. Having registered with it, he had in a way lent it legitimacy, and now that his contact details were known, he was suddenly an easy target. Bjorn pulled up his profile, looking for a way to delete his profile, but there did not seem to be any way to delete it. "Well, that's definitely illegal," Bjorn thought to himself, feeling trapped by the system. Then he tried to blank out the fields, but that was not allowed either.
Bjorn changed his name and hit return, and to his relief, the Blacklist accepted the change. Then he proceeded to change his contact details. He hit return again, but to his shock he saw that the changes could not be made. He was presented with a popup informing him that the changes he had made required his confirmation. He had to go to his e-mail and respond to the automatic message found there. Similarly, he had to respond to the automatic message sent to his phone to make the new phone number permanent. But both the e-mail and the phone number he had typed in were phony. He had no access to them, if they even existed at all.
Then his mobile suddenly vibrated in his pocket, and for a moment Bjorn thought that he might have misunderstood, and that the confirmation had to be done on his existing phone rather than the phony one he had entered. But his hopes were soon dashed. The message was from the Blacklist, but it was simply informing him that his account was experiencing suspicious behavior. Then his phone vibrated again. This time he was asked to confirm his change of name. To make his change official, the message read, he had to respond with OK. If he did nothing, the name would appear on his list of nicknames. Else, he had to respond with NO, or alternatively log in and remove the nickname in the profile editor.
And sure enough, looking over his profile once more, Bjorn saw that his real name was not removed. It was still there, marked as his real name. And the phony name he had typed in was marked as his nickname. Bjorn put his mobile back in his pocket. Then he deleted his phony name from his profile. And Bjorn realized to his quiet horror that his profile at the Blacklist was completely unchanged. Once registered with the Blacklist, there was simply no way to un-register, or even blank out the essential fields.
Bjorn felt the weight of the automatic pistol on his lap, and he put his free hand on it to feel its cold metal. "She has no authority," he thought, smiling to himself as that word authority appeared in his mind. For was it not the case that she was in fact arguing against herself. Her argument implied that she herself had no authority. She could argue as much as she wanted, but who would come to arrest him?
"The Blacklist is a joke," Bjorn thought. "I can't believe that I'm taking this seriously. After all, it takes a great deal more to establish a legal system than setting up a website." But Bjorn could not escape the fact that quite a few people, including Jan and Pedro, were in fact taking the Blacklist seriously, so if he were to get blacklisted, it could make it difficult, if not impossible, to enter the village without being harassed or otherwise inconvenienced.
But it was not like Bjorn was going to shoot anyone. The pistol on his lap was a defensive weapon, meant for his protection only. If he spotted someone trying to escape the village by foot, he was simply to report this, and the escapees would be picked up by the police in Neiden. Similarly, if some desperado was to ram a truck through the barrier, it too would be reported to Neiden where the truck would be stopped.
However, now that he had been promoted to the status of customs officer, Bjorn would from time to time have to stop smugglers and confiscate their wares. And Bjorn suspected that such confiscations would qualify as theft in Maria's eyes. The smugglers might in other words try to get back at him by blacklisting him, burdening him with the inconvenience of a mock trial. Bjorn did not think that such a trial would come to anything. He was after all warning people of the change in rules, so it was not like things were happening out of the blue. Maria might in fact end up agreeing with him, saying that the smugglers were forewarned, and that they had no case. But even the vague prospect of a conflict felt uncomfortable.
Bjorn suddenly regretted having registered himself with the Blacklist. Having registered with it, he had in a way lent it legitimacy, and now that his contact details were known, he was suddenly an easy target. Bjorn pulled up his profile, looking for a way to delete his profile, but there did not seem to be any way to delete it. "Well, that's definitely illegal," Bjorn thought to himself, feeling trapped by the system. Then he tried to blank out the fields, but that was not allowed either.
Bjorn changed his name and hit return, and to his relief, the Blacklist accepted the change. Then he proceeded to change his contact details. He hit return again, but to his shock he saw that the changes could not be made. He was presented with a popup informing him that the changes he had made required his confirmation. He had to go to his e-mail and respond to the automatic message found there. Similarly, he had to respond to the automatic message sent to his phone to make the new phone number permanent. But both the e-mail and the phone number he had typed in were phony. He had no access to them, if they even existed at all.
Then his mobile suddenly vibrated in his pocket, and for a moment Bjorn thought that he might have misunderstood, and that the confirmation had to be done on his existing phone rather than the phony one he had entered. But his hopes were soon dashed. The message was from the Blacklist, but it was simply informing him that his account was experiencing suspicious behavior. Then his phone vibrated again. This time he was asked to confirm his change of name. To make his change official, the message read, he had to respond with OK. If he did nothing, the name would appear on his list of nicknames. Else, he had to respond with NO, or alternatively log in and remove the nickname in the profile editor.
And sure enough, looking over his profile once more, Bjorn saw that his real name was not removed. It was still there, marked as his real name. And the phony name he had typed in was marked as his nickname. Bjorn put his mobile back in his pocket. Then he deleted his phony name from his profile. And Bjorn realized to his quiet horror that his profile at the Blacklist was completely unchanged. Once registered with the Blacklist, there was simply no way to un-register, or even blank out the essential fields.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
179
Bjorn looked up from his PC and reached for his ham sandwich. He felt agitated by Maria's words, and frustrated with the fact that he could not find a good counter argument. He had initially thought of Hitler and the Holocaust as the perfect proof of Maria's error. But he could not use it without either sounding silly or insinuating that the foreign minister was somehow comparable to Hitler.
Bjorn took a bite of his sandwich. "Surely, Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust," he thought. "Yet, Maria is right too. The executioners were the ones doing the killing, not Hitler himself, and there would have been no Holocaust without them."
But on the other hand, Hitler knew he wielded the power of authority, and he used it to kill. Surely, that was a crime. He held a magic spell, as it were, over his followers, and he ordered them to kill. However, this argument would only hold in a system where authority is a legal entity. It also assumes that Hitler's followers were indeed under some sort of spell and unable to think for themselves. To hold Hitler responsible for the Holocaust, it is necessary to appeal to the authority argument and assume his followers to be some sort of automates, unable to think or feel. In Maria's system, authority is not a legal entity and everybody is assumed to have free will. Maria, it turns out, has no way to blame Hitler for the Holocaust because she is denying herself the key assumptions necessary to argue in that direction.
Bjorn felt pleased with himself for having identified the source of Maria's standpoint. He took another bite of his ham sandwich. And while munching it, he could not help giving Maria credit for having at least applied her principles consistently. She had not treated Ane in any way different from the foreign minister. In Maria's world it was the fighter pilots that were responsible for the death's in Libya, and it was Ane's workers that were responsible for polluting the waters around her factory.
"But that's fascism," Bjorn thought to himself. "To blame the little guy for just doing his job while letting the big fish off the hook is no way to run a legal system." Bjorn could not quite believe that Maria was sincere in what she was saying. Going after the little guy, the way she did, could not possibly be out of any sense of justice. This woman was motivated by something far less honorable than justice, and considering her relationship to the local drug lord, it seemed quite obvious that she was really just out to protect her husband. She was sucking up to the foreign minister as a return favor for protecting David. "And why not consistently argue on behalf of the rich and the powerful?" Bjorn thought. "If you already sold your soul to the devil, you might as well get as much out of it as you possibly can."
Then the full scope of Maria's sinister plot suddenly dawned on Bjorn, and it was clear why he had reacted with such anger on reading her comments. Maria was going to hold Bjorn fully responsible for any and all actions committed in the line of duty. Bjorn was the little guy, and he would be held personally responsible for any damage or loss he might cause while merely doing his job. If he shot anybody, and it was not self defense, Maria would charge him with murder. If he confiscated anyone's property, he would be charged with theft.
Bjorn was not angry with Maria due to her apparent defense of Hitler. Bjorn was angry and frustrated with her because she was going to argue against him if he ever was to break the golden rule. Bjorn would not be allowed to use the argument that he was just following orders.
Bjorn took a bite of his sandwich. "Surely, Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust," he thought. "Yet, Maria is right too. The executioners were the ones doing the killing, not Hitler himself, and there would have been no Holocaust without them."
But on the other hand, Hitler knew he wielded the power of authority, and he used it to kill. Surely, that was a crime. He held a magic spell, as it were, over his followers, and he ordered them to kill. However, this argument would only hold in a system where authority is a legal entity. It also assumes that Hitler's followers were indeed under some sort of spell and unable to think for themselves. To hold Hitler responsible for the Holocaust, it is necessary to appeal to the authority argument and assume his followers to be some sort of automates, unable to think or feel. In Maria's system, authority is not a legal entity and everybody is assumed to have free will. Maria, it turns out, has no way to blame Hitler for the Holocaust because she is denying herself the key assumptions necessary to argue in that direction.
Bjorn felt pleased with himself for having identified the source of Maria's standpoint. He took another bite of his ham sandwich. And while munching it, he could not help giving Maria credit for having at least applied her principles consistently. She had not treated Ane in any way different from the foreign minister. In Maria's world it was the fighter pilots that were responsible for the death's in Libya, and it was Ane's workers that were responsible for polluting the waters around her factory.
"But that's fascism," Bjorn thought to himself. "To blame the little guy for just doing his job while letting the big fish off the hook is no way to run a legal system." Bjorn could not quite believe that Maria was sincere in what she was saying. Going after the little guy, the way she did, could not possibly be out of any sense of justice. This woman was motivated by something far less honorable than justice, and considering her relationship to the local drug lord, it seemed quite obvious that she was really just out to protect her husband. She was sucking up to the foreign minister as a return favor for protecting David. "And why not consistently argue on behalf of the rich and the powerful?" Bjorn thought. "If you already sold your soul to the devil, you might as well get as much out of it as you possibly can."
Then the full scope of Maria's sinister plot suddenly dawned on Bjorn, and it was clear why he had reacted with such anger on reading her comments. Maria was going to hold Bjorn fully responsible for any and all actions committed in the line of duty. Bjorn was the little guy, and he would be held personally responsible for any damage or loss he might cause while merely doing his job. If he shot anybody, and it was not self defense, Maria would charge him with murder. If he confiscated anyone's property, he would be charged with theft.
Bjorn was not angry with Maria due to her apparent defense of Hitler. Bjorn was angry and frustrated with her because she was going to argue against him if he ever was to break the golden rule. Bjorn would not be allowed to use the argument that he was just following orders.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
178
Bjorn poured himself another cup of coffee, not at all convinced by Maria's arguments. By her logic, people like Hitler would be innocent. After all, he never killed anyone himself.
Bjorn felt suddenly provoked and angry with Maria's arguments, and he had a strong urge to comment on Maria's line of thought, pointing out its obvious flaw. But only registered users could comment, so he was left to simmer with frustration over the ignorance of the woman. Unable to contribute with a rebuttal, he felt the anger swell in him. Suddenly he felt convinced that he had the ultimate counter argument at hand. And he just had to get himself an account on the Blacklist to post this for everybody to see. Letting this woman get away with her nonsense, was just too much to bare. Not least because the woman was obviously influencing people with her flawed logic.
Bjorn opened an account with the Blacklist, filling in the required fields only. He had no desire to say much about himself. All he wanted to do was to post his killer argument against Maria's nonsense. But when he returned to the case against the foreign minister, he got second thoughts. Maria had after all defended a representative of the Norwegian government. Being himself a representative of the government, he could hardly start arguing for the prosecution of the foreign minister. He had to find some other place to post his argument, so he clicked on Maria's name to see what other cases she was commenting on.
There was no lack of cases that Maria had commented on, but the list was confusing, with only titles and status shown. There was no good way to know which one to choose. He recognized the case against the head of the child protection services in Alta, but that was as hopeless a place to post Bjorn's argument as the case against the foreign minister. Bringing up Hitler and the Holocaust in either of these cases would not do. He had to find a case against some private individual, and use his argument there.
Bjorn took another sip of his coffee. Then he recognized the case against Ane and the fish waste she was dumping into the water under her factory. The case was resolved, but that didn't necessarily mean that the comment field was closed. And, with her being an authority figure, Maria might have used her flawed logic there too. Bjorn clicked on the case, hoping to find it an opportune place to put his rebuttal.
Bjorn browsed through the case and the first few comments until he got to the point where Maria had commented that the plaintiffs had no case against Ane as long as there was no damage made to their properties. But Ane was fighting an uphill battle against Jan and Pedro, with the men arguing that they would rather see Ane come up with a solution before any damage was made. If she persisted in dumping fish waste into the fjord, this would surely result in a pollution problem at some point, and then they would demand generous compensation for the damage caused.
At that point, Maria made the comment that Ane was not in fact spewing fish waste into the waters below her factory. This task was done by one or more of her employees. Ane was innocent of any pollution coming from her factory as long as she was not personally doing the polluting. The case should not be made against Ane, but the employees doing the dumping.
"But that's insane," Bjorn thought as he read this. "The poor workers are probably not even aware of the fact that they are doing anything wrong. You can't hold them responsible for this. They are just doing their job." And Bjorn was not the only one reacting as he did. Ane made the very same argument, to which Maria responded that it nevertheless was the case, and that she was putting her employees at risk of being prosecuted if she did not do anything about the situation.
Following up on Maria's comment, Jan told Ane that he would inform all her workers of the risk they were taking. He would print fliers and distribute them among her workers so that no one would be able to claim ignorance. Every worker would know that they may be stranded with colossal fees unless they stop the dumping immediately. And this threat, Jan figured, would most likely set an immediate stop to the dumping. Ane, in his opinion, had no choice but to find a solution to the problem.
What followed was a brief exchange of messages relating to practical issues and conditions required for Ane to continue her business until Sunday when she suggested a meeting with Jan and Pedro to resolve the problem. They all agreed to meet after church, and to let Ane continue her business as normal until then.
On reading this, Bjorn remembered how Ane had approached Jan and Pedro after mass on Sunday. And whatever they had agreed had proved to be fruitful since the case was closed that same evening. There was no explanation to what the three had agreed on, but the case was resolved. The threat against Ane's employees had made her fold, and the case had ended in some kind of compromise.
Bjorn wondered what they may have decided, but he quickly realized that the possibilities were practically limitless. It could have been anything from a joined ownership of the factory, to some practical solution pertaining to the waste itself. Maybe Ane had to pay some monthly fee, or give the men a cut of the profit. There was really no way to tell, and no point in speculating.
Then, looking at the comment field at the bottom of the page, Bjorn realized that his argument would be completely misplaced on this thread. The case was resolved. Threatening to sue Ane's employees had proven successful. To mention Hitler and the Holocaust on this thread would simply make him look like a complete moron.
Bjorn felt suddenly lost. His killer argument was not as good as he had thought. In fact, it was a stupid argument. And he knew what Maria would answer. She would simply repeat herself, saying that being a psychopath is not a crime. Just as following orders is no defense, giving orders is no crime. The crime is not what a psychopath says, but what the executioners do.
Bjorn felt suddenly provoked and angry with Maria's arguments, and he had a strong urge to comment on Maria's line of thought, pointing out its obvious flaw. But only registered users could comment, so he was left to simmer with frustration over the ignorance of the woman. Unable to contribute with a rebuttal, he felt the anger swell in him. Suddenly he felt convinced that he had the ultimate counter argument at hand. And he just had to get himself an account on the Blacklist to post this for everybody to see. Letting this woman get away with her nonsense, was just too much to bare. Not least because the woman was obviously influencing people with her flawed logic.
Bjorn opened an account with the Blacklist, filling in the required fields only. He had no desire to say much about himself. All he wanted to do was to post his killer argument against Maria's nonsense. But when he returned to the case against the foreign minister, he got second thoughts. Maria had after all defended a representative of the Norwegian government. Being himself a representative of the government, he could hardly start arguing for the prosecution of the foreign minister. He had to find some other place to post his argument, so he clicked on Maria's name to see what other cases she was commenting on.
There was no lack of cases that Maria had commented on, but the list was confusing, with only titles and status shown. There was no good way to know which one to choose. He recognized the case against the head of the child protection services in Alta, but that was as hopeless a place to post Bjorn's argument as the case against the foreign minister. Bringing up Hitler and the Holocaust in either of these cases would not do. He had to find a case against some private individual, and use his argument there.
Bjorn took another sip of his coffee. Then he recognized the case against Ane and the fish waste she was dumping into the water under her factory. The case was resolved, but that didn't necessarily mean that the comment field was closed. And, with her being an authority figure, Maria might have used her flawed logic there too. Bjorn clicked on the case, hoping to find it an opportune place to put his rebuttal.
Bjorn browsed through the case and the first few comments until he got to the point where Maria had commented that the plaintiffs had no case against Ane as long as there was no damage made to their properties. But Ane was fighting an uphill battle against Jan and Pedro, with the men arguing that they would rather see Ane come up with a solution before any damage was made. If she persisted in dumping fish waste into the fjord, this would surely result in a pollution problem at some point, and then they would demand generous compensation for the damage caused.
At that point, Maria made the comment that Ane was not in fact spewing fish waste into the waters below her factory. This task was done by one or more of her employees. Ane was innocent of any pollution coming from her factory as long as she was not personally doing the polluting. The case should not be made against Ane, but the employees doing the dumping.
"But that's insane," Bjorn thought as he read this. "The poor workers are probably not even aware of the fact that they are doing anything wrong. You can't hold them responsible for this. They are just doing their job." And Bjorn was not the only one reacting as he did. Ane made the very same argument, to which Maria responded that it nevertheless was the case, and that she was putting her employees at risk of being prosecuted if she did not do anything about the situation.
Following up on Maria's comment, Jan told Ane that he would inform all her workers of the risk they were taking. He would print fliers and distribute them among her workers so that no one would be able to claim ignorance. Every worker would know that they may be stranded with colossal fees unless they stop the dumping immediately. And this threat, Jan figured, would most likely set an immediate stop to the dumping. Ane, in his opinion, had no choice but to find a solution to the problem.
What followed was a brief exchange of messages relating to practical issues and conditions required for Ane to continue her business until Sunday when she suggested a meeting with Jan and Pedro to resolve the problem. They all agreed to meet after church, and to let Ane continue her business as normal until then.
On reading this, Bjorn remembered how Ane had approached Jan and Pedro after mass on Sunday. And whatever they had agreed had proved to be fruitful since the case was closed that same evening. There was no explanation to what the three had agreed on, but the case was resolved. The threat against Ane's employees had made her fold, and the case had ended in some kind of compromise.
Bjorn wondered what they may have decided, but he quickly realized that the possibilities were practically limitless. It could have been anything from a joined ownership of the factory, to some practical solution pertaining to the waste itself. Maybe Ane had to pay some monthly fee, or give the men a cut of the profit. There was really no way to tell, and no point in speculating.
Then, looking at the comment field at the bottom of the page, Bjorn realized that his argument would be completely misplaced on this thread. The case was resolved. Threatening to sue Ane's employees had proven successful. To mention Hitler and the Holocaust on this thread would simply make him look like a complete moron.
Bjorn felt suddenly lost. His killer argument was not as good as he had thought. In fact, it was a stupid argument. And he knew what Maria would answer. She would simply repeat herself, saying that being a psychopath is not a crime. Just as following orders is no defense, giving orders is no crime. The crime is not what a psychopath says, but what the executioners do.
Monday, February 9, 2015
177
Bjorn read through Maria's comment once more. "That's just stupid," he thought. "Who do these guys think they are?" He chuckled at the very idea of bringing the foreign minister to trail in Lundby. But then, remembering that the foreign minister owned one of the luxury apartments down by the fjord, he realized that he could indeed become somewhat inconvenienced if he had a feud with the locals. Such a feud might make it difficult or impossible to use his apartment.
Bjorn clicked on the link to the case Maria was referencing, curious to know what the minister was charged with, and why Maria was defending the man. "It might all be nonsense, of course," Bjorn thought. "But even if it was, it would surely reveal something interesting about the village, and the sort of things they might one day be up to."
Bjorn half expected some local issue being presented to him, but was not surprised when he saw that the case against the foreign minister was related to the war in Libya, and had nothing to do with Lundby. A large number of Libyan individuals had signed up as plaintiffs against the minister, charging him of mass murder. The plaintiffs sought retribution for the death of their loved ones, all killed during the Libyan war.
The list of names of victims was long. More than two hundred names to be exact, all documented with names, dates of birth, pictures and a description of how and when they met their untimely end. Bjorn clicked on a few links, and some of the images coming up were truly horrific. Some of the victims had been burned alive in the firestorm caused by the bombs dropped on them. And many of the victims were clearly civilians. Children and babies were listed among them.
The case against the foreign minister was not some quick hack. It was detailed and extensive. And with so many civilians among the victims, the call for retribution seemed entirely reasonable, all be it a little far fetched. Political figures are generally immune against this kind of charges, after all. Certainly if the victims can be described as collateral damage, unintended deaths in the heat of battle.
But, reading through Maria's comments, Bjorn was surprised to find that Maria's defense of the minister was not based on the idea that the deaths were simply regrettable consequences of war. Not a single place did Maria argue that the fact that these victims died during a war, made the case invalid. Rather, she argued that the foreign minister was innocent because he had not in fact killed anyone. He had given an order to kill, but he had not killed anyone himself.
Bjorn was baffled by the argument, but it made perfect sense. Maria pointed out that the law of the Fifth Empire does not include the concept of authority. Following orders is no defense. And the flip side of this is that giving orders is not a crime. "Any psychopath can order the execution of people," Maria argued. "But the crime lies not in the order. It lies in its execution. Bring us the executioners, and we will judge them according to their crime."
Maria closed the case by asking the plaintiffs to list the names of the pilots, and bring the charges against them rather than the foreign minister, because they were in fact the murderers. Only when the correct defendants were identified would she consider opening the case again.
"But how do we know who killed whom?" asked one of the plaintiffs, as he objected to Maria's position. "That is entirely unimportant," she answered. "All we need to know is whether or not they flew to Libya with the intent to drop their deadly cargo. If they did, then clearly some sort of retribution is warranted, even if we never get to know the exact link between the victims and the executioners."
There were several objections to Maria's position on the legal status of authority, but she met every objection with the argument that the Fifth Empire is based on the fact that each man is equal, and that no godly authority exist between men. "Authority can take no responsibility off of the backs of the perpetrators, and the authority figure is therefore innocent," Maria argued. "Being evil and saying evil is not a crime. Only doing evil is a crime. To say that certain people have more responsibility than others due to their social standing is to assume the existence of authority as a legal entity. No such entity exists, and hence this rule applies to all, no matter their social standing."
The argument that all other legal systems known to man consider authority to be a legal entity was met by a short rebuttal to the effect that this merely shows that those systems are not valid in the empire. "We all live directly under God, whether we like it or not," Maria noted. "No man is above any other in any matter whatsoever. The fact that some men are wiser than others, do not change this. Men do not form legal hierarchies among themselves, even if one is wise and the other is a fool. We must all take full responsibility for our own actions. We must all adhere to the Golden Rule, the one and only law of the empire. And that implies that there is no such thing as authority in the legal sense of the word."
Bjorn clicked on the link to the case Maria was referencing, curious to know what the minister was charged with, and why Maria was defending the man. "It might all be nonsense, of course," Bjorn thought. "But even if it was, it would surely reveal something interesting about the village, and the sort of things they might one day be up to."
Bjorn half expected some local issue being presented to him, but was not surprised when he saw that the case against the foreign minister was related to the war in Libya, and had nothing to do with Lundby. A large number of Libyan individuals had signed up as plaintiffs against the minister, charging him of mass murder. The plaintiffs sought retribution for the death of their loved ones, all killed during the Libyan war.
The list of names of victims was long. More than two hundred names to be exact, all documented with names, dates of birth, pictures and a description of how and when they met their untimely end. Bjorn clicked on a few links, and some of the images coming up were truly horrific. Some of the victims had been burned alive in the firestorm caused by the bombs dropped on them. And many of the victims were clearly civilians. Children and babies were listed among them.
The case against the foreign minister was not some quick hack. It was detailed and extensive. And with so many civilians among the victims, the call for retribution seemed entirely reasonable, all be it a little far fetched. Political figures are generally immune against this kind of charges, after all. Certainly if the victims can be described as collateral damage, unintended deaths in the heat of battle.
But, reading through Maria's comments, Bjorn was surprised to find that Maria's defense of the minister was not based on the idea that the deaths were simply regrettable consequences of war. Not a single place did Maria argue that the fact that these victims died during a war, made the case invalid. Rather, she argued that the foreign minister was innocent because he had not in fact killed anyone. He had given an order to kill, but he had not killed anyone himself.
Bjorn was baffled by the argument, but it made perfect sense. Maria pointed out that the law of the Fifth Empire does not include the concept of authority. Following orders is no defense. And the flip side of this is that giving orders is not a crime. "Any psychopath can order the execution of people," Maria argued. "But the crime lies not in the order. It lies in its execution. Bring us the executioners, and we will judge them according to their crime."
Maria closed the case by asking the plaintiffs to list the names of the pilots, and bring the charges against them rather than the foreign minister, because they were in fact the murderers. Only when the correct defendants were identified would she consider opening the case again.
"But how do we know who killed whom?" asked one of the plaintiffs, as he objected to Maria's position. "That is entirely unimportant," she answered. "All we need to know is whether or not they flew to Libya with the intent to drop their deadly cargo. If they did, then clearly some sort of retribution is warranted, even if we never get to know the exact link between the victims and the executioners."
There were several objections to Maria's position on the legal status of authority, but she met every objection with the argument that the Fifth Empire is based on the fact that each man is equal, and that no godly authority exist between men. "Authority can take no responsibility off of the backs of the perpetrators, and the authority figure is therefore innocent," Maria argued. "Being evil and saying evil is not a crime. Only doing evil is a crime. To say that certain people have more responsibility than others due to their social standing is to assume the existence of authority as a legal entity. No such entity exists, and hence this rule applies to all, no matter their social standing."
The argument that all other legal systems known to man consider authority to be a legal entity was met by a short rebuttal to the effect that this merely shows that those systems are not valid in the empire. "We all live directly under God, whether we like it or not," Maria noted. "No man is above any other in any matter whatsoever. The fact that some men are wiser than others, do not change this. Men do not form legal hierarchies among themselves, even if one is wise and the other is a fool. We must all take full responsibility for our own actions. We must all adhere to the Golden Rule, the one and only law of the empire. And that implies that there is no such thing as authority in the legal sense of the word."
Friday, February 6, 2015
176
Bjorn had just sat down in his chair when he became aware of a car coming down from Neiden. Every time the car made a turn, the headlights flickered in the big mirror hanging outside the office. Bjorn watch the car as it came down the windy road, disappearing behind rocks and hills, reappearing a little later, and then disappearing again, off and on until it finally arrived at the checkpoint.
"Passport!" Bjorn said in a formal voice. Then he proceeded to tell the driver about the new rules before typing in the number found in the passport handed over to him. Bjorn hit return, and up came a copy of the passport he was holding in his hand, complete with a green banner telling him that all was clear.
"So I better stock up on things today, while it's still legal?" the driver asked rhetorically.
"That's right!" Bjorn answered with a friendly smile, handing the passport back to the driver. Then he pushed the green button to raise the barrier.
Bjorn followed the car with his eyes as it wound its way downhill until it disappeared behind the hill to the north east, and he was again left to his own thoughts. He looked at his PC. Then he pulled up a second tab on his browser. "I wonder what the Lundby Blacklist has to say about Einar," Bjorn thought, finding the web address in his browser history. "Somehow I doubt they have anything on the man." And sure enough, the Blacklist used by the citizens of Lundby did not contain any mention of Einar.
Bjorn typed in Katinka's name. Nothing. Then he typed in Roger's name: also nothing. "How about David?" Bjorn wondered. He typed in his name, and got nothing. "But he's married to that Maria woman. That's probably worth something," Bjorn thought while idly typing in Cecilie's name for a final search. Bjorn hit return, and to his surprise, he got up Cecilie's profile. However, it was the same page he had seen earlier so his surprise soon passed. She was, as Bjorn already knew, listed as plaintiff in the case against the head of the child protection service in Alta. There were no charges against Cecilie. No one had charged her of anything.
Bjorn looked at the woman's profile. "So, which is it?" he wondered. "Is she dangerous and a criminal, or not?" He thought back to the episode in the church where Cecilie had come with her daughter, all done up and pretty. It did not look like anything was amiss. And they sat down with Ane and Ola. Why would Ane and Ola be involved with this woman if she was dangerous?
On the other hand, why would the child protecting service want to interfere if nothing was amiss? That made no sense either. Bjorn stared at the computer screen, trying to make sense of the situation. But the pieces simply did not fit together. He was missing something, some important fact that would solve the puzzle. Then he became aware of the status field associated with Cecilie's complaint. The case was on hold. It was not new, not active, nor resolved. It was on hold, and curious to know why, Bjorn clicked on it.
Up came the details of the complaint with its long list of plaintiffs. Bjorn clicked on the name of the defendant. However, all he got was her summary page. The woman was either ignorant of this case, or more likely, ignoring it as a crank thing with no legitimacy. Either way, she did not have a profile on the Blacklist.
Bjorn returned to the complaint. Then he scrolled down to the comment section, the last comment being posted by Maria. "Again, and I repeat myself," it read. "Just like following orders is no defense, giving orders is no crime. Unless you can show hard evidence that this woman has acted and aggressed personally against you and your children, you have no case. Please go to my defense of the foreign minister for a complete explanation."
"Passport!" Bjorn said in a formal voice. Then he proceeded to tell the driver about the new rules before typing in the number found in the passport handed over to him. Bjorn hit return, and up came a copy of the passport he was holding in his hand, complete with a green banner telling him that all was clear.
"So I better stock up on things today, while it's still legal?" the driver asked rhetorically.
"That's right!" Bjorn answered with a friendly smile, handing the passport back to the driver. Then he pushed the green button to raise the barrier.
Bjorn followed the car with his eyes as it wound its way downhill until it disappeared behind the hill to the north east, and he was again left to his own thoughts. He looked at his PC. Then he pulled up a second tab on his browser. "I wonder what the Lundby Blacklist has to say about Einar," Bjorn thought, finding the web address in his browser history. "Somehow I doubt they have anything on the man." And sure enough, the Blacklist used by the citizens of Lundby did not contain any mention of Einar.
Bjorn typed in Katinka's name. Nothing. Then he typed in Roger's name: also nothing. "How about David?" Bjorn wondered. He typed in his name, and got nothing. "But he's married to that Maria woman. That's probably worth something," Bjorn thought while idly typing in Cecilie's name for a final search. Bjorn hit return, and to his surprise, he got up Cecilie's profile. However, it was the same page he had seen earlier so his surprise soon passed. She was, as Bjorn already knew, listed as plaintiff in the case against the head of the child protection service in Alta. There were no charges against Cecilie. No one had charged her of anything.
Bjorn looked at the woman's profile. "So, which is it?" he wondered. "Is she dangerous and a criminal, or not?" He thought back to the episode in the church where Cecilie had come with her daughter, all done up and pretty. It did not look like anything was amiss. And they sat down with Ane and Ola. Why would Ane and Ola be involved with this woman if she was dangerous?
On the other hand, why would the child protecting service want to interfere if nothing was amiss? That made no sense either. Bjorn stared at the computer screen, trying to make sense of the situation. But the pieces simply did not fit together. He was missing something, some important fact that would solve the puzzle. Then he became aware of the status field associated with Cecilie's complaint. The case was on hold. It was not new, not active, nor resolved. It was on hold, and curious to know why, Bjorn clicked on it.
Up came the details of the complaint with its long list of plaintiffs. Bjorn clicked on the name of the defendant. However, all he got was her summary page. The woman was either ignorant of this case, or more likely, ignoring it as a crank thing with no legitimacy. Either way, she did not have a profile on the Blacklist.
Bjorn returned to the complaint. Then he scrolled down to the comment section, the last comment being posted by Maria. "Again, and I repeat myself," it read. "Just like following orders is no defense, giving orders is no crime. Unless you can show hard evidence that this woman has acted and aggressed personally against you and your children, you have no case. Please go to my defense of the foreign minister for a complete explanation."
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
151
Bjorn felt immediately much better on leaving the restaurant.
"It was stuffy in there, wasn't it?" he commented.
"Not any worse than at the checkpoint," Ante replied.
"Well, I feel much better now," Bjorn continued, hoping to convince Ante to change his mind regarding David's pharmacy. "Let's go back to the checkpoint."
"And miss out on this little adventure?" Ante protested. "No way!"
"But..."
"I'm curious, and now I got the perfect excuse to nose around," Ante continued. "Come on, do it for me!"
"But it's just a pharmacy," Bjorn ventured.
"No. It's not just a pharmacy. It's a drug store. Those guys sell everything you could possible want. Aren't you curious about that?"
"And you want me to take advice from those guys?" Bjorn asked, stopping by the pathway leading up to the pharmacy from the road.
"Hey! What harm can come of it. It's not like you have to buy a bottle of heroin if that's what they prescribe."
"No. But what's the point? They can't possibly be serious. I mean... just look at that board. The sky is not the limit. What kind of an ad is that? And those guys are going to suggest something for my dizzy spell?"
"Well, Katinka said she trusts them."
"Yeah... she trusts Roger too. That makes her an expert, right?"
Ante looked at Bjorn and then back at the pharmacy.
"Come on!" he exclaimed, putting one foot forward in the direction of the store. "Let's check this place out."
And with all his counter arguments exhausted, Bjorn followed Ante up the pathway. Ante opened the door and ushered Bjorn in as a guest of honor, closing the door carefully behind them as they stepped into another converted living room, this one full of little racks displaying all sorts of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
A woman sat by a PC behind the counter, barely sparing them a glance as they stepped into the room. She was busy typing something, and for a moment Bjorn got the impression that she had no interest at all in helping them. He looked around, and saw that the place did indeed look like a pharmacy, and not like a dealer's den. But a rack to the back of the store had a board with the word "recreational" typed onto it. There was also one with the word "opiates" typed on to it. But the two racks were otherwise no different from those that were marked with words like "dental" and "skin care" and the like.
"How can I help you?" the woman behind the PC asked, having finished her typing.
"Well, we need something against dizziness," Ante said. "My friend here suffers from dizzy spells."
"Oh, is that so?" the woman replied. "I'm not sure what David would recommend for that. Wait here! I'll check with him."
Bjorn recognized the woman at once as Maria, the self proclaimed law expert, and he mentioned this to Ante the moment she disappeared into the back room.
"She's a lawyer?" Ante asked, intrigued.
"That's what she claims."
"In a place with no laws," Ante commented with a smile. "That must be tough."
But the two men had no time to reflect on Maria's seemingly impossible profession, as she soon returned with David who she presented to them as being her husband and store owner.
David was a little taller than Maria, but still a relatively short man, not even as tall as Ante. But what he lacked in stature, he made up for in his presence. There was something confidence inspiring about the man.
"Dizzy spells?" David asked rhetorically, looking at Bjorn.
"Yeah, well, I had one on Friday, and one just now."
"That's it?"
"Well, I was a little dizzy yesterday too."
"So you've just started having these spells?"
"Yeah."
"You're in the military I see."
"Yeah."
"And when did you have your latest check up."
"Oh... like a month ago. When I signed up for this job."
"And they didn't find anything wrong with you back then?"
"No, well, they said I could drop a few pounds. Maybe stop smoking."
"I see. And?"
"Well, I haven't given up on the smoke, and I haven't lost any weight, I don't think."
David looked at Bjorn with a critical eye.
"Anxiety?" David asked. "Ever feel claustrophobic or lost for no reason?"
"Eh, well... It happens."
"Nightmares?"
"Actually, yes. But I'm not very bothered."
"No?"
"No."
David went over to a rack next to the opiates where he picked up a small brown bottle with a thick liquid inside.
"This will help you stop smoking, and relieve some of that anxiety too," David said with a serious and confident look at Bjorn. "And it does relieve certain types of vertigo."
"What is it?" Bjorn asked.
"It's a cannabis oil that I've developed."
"Oh..." Bjorn replied, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "I'd prefer something... ah... more pharmaceutical, if you will."
"Well, we have a synthetic alternative, but it is actually more dangerous, has more side effect. I prefer not giving that to people unless they specifically ask for it."
"Yeah?"
"No one ever died ingesting small quantities of cannabis. That's not the case for the synthetic alternative."
"The other one kills people?"
"It has been known to heighten blood pressure. And, well, that can be very dangerous."
"And this oil doesn't do that?"
"No."
"There's no side effects?"
"Apart from drowsiness, no. So you take one spoon of this in the evening, and you'll sleep like a baby."
"And the next morning?"
"You'll feel fine, and less of an urge to have a cigarette."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
Bjorn reached for the bottle which David was happy to let him hold.
"But I'm actually here for those dizzy spells," Bjorn said, looking at the viscous liquid through the dark glass.
"It may work, or maybe not. But I think your real problem is the cigarettes. And this will help you stop smoking."
"So if I stop smoking, the dizzy spells will pass."
"Probably, yes."
"And this will help me sleep better too."
"For sure."
"I won't get hooked, will I?" Bjorn asked.
"It's never a good idea to use a drug over time. But this is definitely not very addictive. This bottle will last you two weeks, and you should have no trouble quitting it right there."
"Unlike this," Ante commented from the side, holding a small bottle labeled "heroin" in his hand.
David gave Ante a tired look, clearly having been challenged about his drugs before.
"No, as I'm sure you know, that's very addictive," David explained. "But that's not what I'm recommending for your friend here, is it?"
"No, but you're actually selling this stuff?"
"Yes I do."
"Just like that?"
"What you mean?"
"Can I buy this bottle?" Ante asked.
"I wouldn't recommend it, but yeah."
"You're not going to stop me?"
"No. But I'm not pushing it either."
"But how about that sky is not the limit sign you got out on your front yard?"
"That's for the recreational drugs. What you got there is an opiate, and a very strong one at that."
Ante looked pleased with David's calm and down to earth explanations.
"So who is this for?" Ante asked.
"Well. It's meant for terminally ill people. People who are in a lot of pain. People like that don't care if they get hooked, since they are going to die anyway."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, we have a few customers like that."
"Terminally ill people?"
"Yeah?"
"Really?"
"We even have a place for them to come and stay. But most people prefer to die at home."
"You got a hospital thing going on here?" Ante asked, impressed.
"Well, not in this house."
"Where?"
"That's a secret."
"Yeah? Why?"
David looked at Ante with a critical smile.
"Well, why do you think?"
"I don't know."
"You're turning up here in uniforms, and you expect me to tell you all my secrets? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Oh... I'm sorry," Ante replied, putting the heroin bottle back in its place. "But you would sell me this bottle if I insisted?"
"Yeah, sure. But why would you want to buy a bottle of heroin?"
"Just for the heck of it, maybe."
"Sure! Be my guest!"
Ante looked at the bottle as if he was seriously considering buying it. Then he looked over at Bjorn, still holding on to the cannabis oil.
"Ah... well... I'll have this one," Bjorn commented, sending Ante a stern look.
"Okay," David said with a nod. "That will be seventy five MG."
They walked over to the counter where Maria was once again focusing on her PC.
"Remember to shake it well before use," David commented while Bjorn fished out a handful of casino tokens from his trouser pocket, picking out the correct amount for Maria. She in turn grabbed a small plastic bag from under the counter, dropped the bottle into it and handed it back to Bjorn.
"It was stuffy in there, wasn't it?" he commented.
"Not any worse than at the checkpoint," Ante replied.
"Well, I feel much better now," Bjorn continued, hoping to convince Ante to change his mind regarding David's pharmacy. "Let's go back to the checkpoint."
"And miss out on this little adventure?" Ante protested. "No way!"
"But..."
"I'm curious, and now I got the perfect excuse to nose around," Ante continued. "Come on, do it for me!"
"But it's just a pharmacy," Bjorn ventured.
"No. It's not just a pharmacy. It's a drug store. Those guys sell everything you could possible want. Aren't you curious about that?"
"And you want me to take advice from those guys?" Bjorn asked, stopping by the pathway leading up to the pharmacy from the road.
"Hey! What harm can come of it. It's not like you have to buy a bottle of heroin if that's what they prescribe."
"No. But what's the point? They can't possibly be serious. I mean... just look at that board. The sky is not the limit. What kind of an ad is that? And those guys are going to suggest something for my dizzy spell?"
"Well, Katinka said she trusts them."
"Yeah... she trusts Roger too. That makes her an expert, right?"
Ante looked at Bjorn and then back at the pharmacy.
"Come on!" he exclaimed, putting one foot forward in the direction of the store. "Let's check this place out."
And with all his counter arguments exhausted, Bjorn followed Ante up the pathway. Ante opened the door and ushered Bjorn in as a guest of honor, closing the door carefully behind them as they stepped into another converted living room, this one full of little racks displaying all sorts of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
A woman sat by a PC behind the counter, barely sparing them a glance as they stepped into the room. She was busy typing something, and for a moment Bjorn got the impression that she had no interest at all in helping them. He looked around, and saw that the place did indeed look like a pharmacy, and not like a dealer's den. But a rack to the back of the store had a board with the word "recreational" typed onto it. There was also one with the word "opiates" typed on to it. But the two racks were otherwise no different from those that were marked with words like "dental" and "skin care" and the like.
"How can I help you?" the woman behind the PC asked, having finished her typing.
"Well, we need something against dizziness," Ante said. "My friend here suffers from dizzy spells."
"Oh, is that so?" the woman replied. "I'm not sure what David would recommend for that. Wait here! I'll check with him."
Bjorn recognized the woman at once as Maria, the self proclaimed law expert, and he mentioned this to Ante the moment she disappeared into the back room.
"She's a lawyer?" Ante asked, intrigued.
"That's what she claims."
"In a place with no laws," Ante commented with a smile. "That must be tough."
But the two men had no time to reflect on Maria's seemingly impossible profession, as she soon returned with David who she presented to them as being her husband and store owner.
David was a little taller than Maria, but still a relatively short man, not even as tall as Ante. But what he lacked in stature, he made up for in his presence. There was something confidence inspiring about the man.
"Dizzy spells?" David asked rhetorically, looking at Bjorn.
"Yeah, well, I had one on Friday, and one just now."
"That's it?"
"Well, I was a little dizzy yesterday too."
"So you've just started having these spells?"
"Yeah."
"You're in the military I see."
"Yeah."
"And when did you have your latest check up."
"Oh... like a month ago. When I signed up for this job."
"And they didn't find anything wrong with you back then?"
"No, well, they said I could drop a few pounds. Maybe stop smoking."
"I see. And?"
"Well, I haven't given up on the smoke, and I haven't lost any weight, I don't think."
David looked at Bjorn with a critical eye.
"Anxiety?" David asked. "Ever feel claustrophobic or lost for no reason?"
"Eh, well... It happens."
"Nightmares?"
"Actually, yes. But I'm not very bothered."
"No?"
"No."
David went over to a rack next to the opiates where he picked up a small brown bottle with a thick liquid inside.
"This will help you stop smoking, and relieve some of that anxiety too," David said with a serious and confident look at Bjorn. "And it does relieve certain types of vertigo."
"What is it?" Bjorn asked.
"It's a cannabis oil that I've developed."
"Oh..." Bjorn replied, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "I'd prefer something... ah... more pharmaceutical, if you will."
"Well, we have a synthetic alternative, but it is actually more dangerous, has more side effect. I prefer not giving that to people unless they specifically ask for it."
"Yeah?"
"No one ever died ingesting small quantities of cannabis. That's not the case for the synthetic alternative."
"The other one kills people?"
"It has been known to heighten blood pressure. And, well, that can be very dangerous."
"And this oil doesn't do that?"
"No."
"There's no side effects?"
"Apart from drowsiness, no. So you take one spoon of this in the evening, and you'll sleep like a baby."
"And the next morning?"
"You'll feel fine, and less of an urge to have a cigarette."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
Bjorn reached for the bottle which David was happy to let him hold.
"But I'm actually here for those dizzy spells," Bjorn said, looking at the viscous liquid through the dark glass.
"It may work, or maybe not. But I think your real problem is the cigarettes. And this will help you stop smoking."
"So if I stop smoking, the dizzy spells will pass."
"Probably, yes."
"And this will help me sleep better too."
"For sure."
"I won't get hooked, will I?" Bjorn asked.
"It's never a good idea to use a drug over time. But this is definitely not very addictive. This bottle will last you two weeks, and you should have no trouble quitting it right there."
"Unlike this," Ante commented from the side, holding a small bottle labeled "heroin" in his hand.
David gave Ante a tired look, clearly having been challenged about his drugs before.
"No, as I'm sure you know, that's very addictive," David explained. "But that's not what I'm recommending for your friend here, is it?"
"No, but you're actually selling this stuff?"
"Yes I do."
"Just like that?"
"What you mean?"
"Can I buy this bottle?" Ante asked.
"I wouldn't recommend it, but yeah."
"You're not going to stop me?"
"No. But I'm not pushing it either."
"But how about that sky is not the limit sign you got out on your front yard?"
"That's for the recreational drugs. What you got there is an opiate, and a very strong one at that."
Ante looked pleased with David's calm and down to earth explanations.
"So who is this for?" Ante asked.
"Well. It's meant for terminally ill people. People who are in a lot of pain. People like that don't care if they get hooked, since they are going to die anyway."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, we have a few customers like that."
"Terminally ill people?"
"Yeah?"
"Really?"
"We even have a place for them to come and stay. But most people prefer to die at home."
"You got a hospital thing going on here?" Ante asked, impressed.
"Well, not in this house."
"Where?"
"That's a secret."
"Yeah? Why?"
David looked at Ante with a critical smile.
"Well, why do you think?"
"I don't know."
"You're turning up here in uniforms, and you expect me to tell you all my secrets? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Oh... I'm sorry," Ante replied, putting the heroin bottle back in its place. "But you would sell me this bottle if I insisted?"
"Yeah, sure. But why would you want to buy a bottle of heroin?"
"Just for the heck of it, maybe."
"Sure! Be my guest!"
Ante looked at the bottle as if he was seriously considering buying it. Then he looked over at Bjorn, still holding on to the cannabis oil.
"Ah... well... I'll have this one," Bjorn commented, sending Ante a stern look.
"Okay," David said with a nod. "That will be seventy five MG."
They walked over to the counter where Maria was once again focusing on her PC.
"Remember to shake it well before use," David commented while Bjorn fished out a handful of casino tokens from his trouser pocket, picking out the correct amount for Maria. She in turn grabbed a small plastic bag from under the counter, dropped the bottle into it and handed it back to Bjorn.
Monday, May 19, 2014
66
"Why are you here?" The question hung once again over him, this time as a dirty residue from a fading dream. Bjorn tried to ignore both the question and the dream, and let them evaporate during his morning routine. But the question and the images were too vivid to go away on their own, so he went through it systematically instead in the hope that a quick analysis would expose the silliness of it all and thereby render the uncomfortable question powerless. And Bjorn quickly realized that the dream was in fact little else than a strange and mixed up collage of impressions from the day before.
In the dream, Bjorn had been enjoying a wonderful meal when Maria from Independent Law had suddenly appeared in front of him, claiming to represent his ex, and it was Maria who had asked the uncomfortable question on his ex's behalf. Bjorn, being unable to answer Maria's question was then asked if he had insurance. And when Bjorn admitted to being uninsured, Maria simply vanished into thin air along with a half finished sentence. "Well, if that is the case..." she said, disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared. Then, looking around in the empty room, Bjorn realized with a shock that he was sitting in a prison, with no doors, and only a tiny window from which he could see the village.
"Such silliness," Bjorn thought to himself, but the images and the question stuck with him until he came down to the kitchen where Ante quickly brought him out of his meditations with a bit of real news from the real world.
"Have you heard the latest on the asylum seekers?" Ante asked with a touch of excitement.
"No? What happened?"
"They burned down the asylum seeker centre in Lier!"
"They burned it down?"
"They did! And when the firemen arrived, they pelted them with rocks and kept them away, so now there's nothing more than a smoldering heap of ruins where the buildings used to be."
"And these are the people we're going to get up here shortly?" Bjorn asked rhetorically as he sat down for his breakfast.
"It is indeed."
"Lier doesn't happen to be the same place they held that demonstration the other day?" Bjorn asked, wondering if the media attention of the last few days might have set the riots in motion.
"You know... I was wondering the same thing. But they didn't say anything about that. They did say that the asylum seekers at Lier were scheduled for deportation next week, though."
Bjorn dug into his bacon and eggs while contemplating the implications of the riots.
"It's going to be a mess, isn't it?" Bjorn thought out loud.
"Bringing all those people together to this one location, you mean?"
"Yeah..." Bjorn confirmed with a nod. "Imagine hundreds, or even thousands of thugs like that, all brought together to this one place."
In the dream, Bjorn had been enjoying a wonderful meal when Maria from Independent Law had suddenly appeared in front of him, claiming to represent his ex, and it was Maria who had asked the uncomfortable question on his ex's behalf. Bjorn, being unable to answer Maria's question was then asked if he had insurance. And when Bjorn admitted to being uninsured, Maria simply vanished into thin air along with a half finished sentence. "Well, if that is the case..." she said, disappearing as suddenly as she had appeared. Then, looking around in the empty room, Bjorn realized with a shock that he was sitting in a prison, with no doors, and only a tiny window from which he could see the village.
"Such silliness," Bjorn thought to himself, but the images and the question stuck with him until he came down to the kitchen where Ante quickly brought him out of his meditations with a bit of real news from the real world.
"Have you heard the latest on the asylum seekers?" Ante asked with a touch of excitement.
"No? What happened?"
"They burned down the asylum seeker centre in Lier!"
"They burned it down?"
"They did! And when the firemen arrived, they pelted them with rocks and kept them away, so now there's nothing more than a smoldering heap of ruins where the buildings used to be."
"And these are the people we're going to get up here shortly?" Bjorn asked rhetorically as he sat down for his breakfast.
"It is indeed."
"Lier doesn't happen to be the same place they held that demonstration the other day?" Bjorn asked, wondering if the media attention of the last few days might have set the riots in motion.
"You know... I was wondering the same thing. But they didn't say anything about that. They did say that the asylum seekers at Lier were scheduled for deportation next week, though."
Bjorn dug into his bacon and eggs while contemplating the implications of the riots.
"It's going to be a mess, isn't it?" Bjorn thought out loud.
"Bringing all those people together to this one location, you mean?"
"Yeah..." Bjorn confirmed with a nod. "Imagine hundreds, or even thousands of thugs like that, all brought together to this one place."
Friday, May 16, 2014
65
It was slowly getting darker outside, and Bjorn's reflection in the window was starting to bother him, so he got up of his chair and pulled the curtains shut for the night. Then, once he was seated again, he clicked his way back to the complaint made against Pedro.
From reading the complaint, it was clear that the journalist over at the Gazette had pick much of her material directly from the Blacklist. But there was also no doubt that the journalist had in fact been talking to both the stall owners and Pedro to get the full story. The complaint was relatively short and to the point, basically claiming that Pedro had no right to the village square, that the village square belonged to the people of Lundby, and that no one had the right to impose any kind of tax or restriction on the stall owners.
Pedro on his side begged to differ, of course, pointing to his claim to all the pubic areas of Lundby, including the village square. Directly below Pedro's comment, Jan had a short comment directed at both the stall owners and Pedro, suggesting they sort out their differences in his office in the casino. And directly under Jan's comment, there was a third and final comment written by the same Maria that had made a comment on Jan and Pedro's complaint against Ane.
Maria's comment was directed directly at the stall owners, basically saying that their complaint was confused and muddled, and lacking in precision, her main objection being that the village square could not possibly belongs to "the people" since no such entity exists. Then she went on to say that she would not touch the case before the stall owners sort out among themselves what exactly they were asking for.
And quite understandably, Maria's comment had a long tail of sub-comments, all from the plaintiffs, basically saying that she was the one confused, and that a further specification of who "the people" were was in any case besides the point. The stall owners had no intention of paying any kind of rent or tribute to Pedro, and would resist any attempt to force them into doing so.
"So, who is this Maria," Bjorn wondered. "Clearly some sort of self styled lawyer, judging from her pretentious remark about not wanting to touch the case." And with this in mind Bjorn clicked on her name in order to find out more which brought up the fact sheet on her, showing that she was not involved in any disputes at the moment. Bjorn clicked on Maria's name again to go to her personal details page which turned out to be surprisingly elaborate, with a picture of her face, a list of achievements and a whole lot of data on her career and education.
Maria was indeed a self styled lawyer of sorts, running a company called Independent Law. Maria offered what she called "arbitration services", claiming extensive experience with "private law", and her comments on the Blacklist were clearly all part of a marketing strategy from her side. By offering a quick initial analysis of the various disputes in the village, she was showing off her legal skills with a hope to attract paying customers for her arbitration services.
Bjorn looked at the picture of the woman with her thick black hair and almost child like appearance. She looked friendly and approachable, in contrast to her remarks on the Blacklist which had been pointy and almost aggressive in their criticism of the complaints. Then, looking over to the right hand margin of the page, Bjorn's attention was drawn to an ad that had stayed with him throughout his browsing of the Blacklist, but not caught his attention before now. It displayed a stylized icon of St. George slaying the dragon, under which it read Lance Security in gold letters, followed by a sub-title with the text: "To Serve and Protect".
"But isn't that Pedro's company?" Bjorn wondered, surprised to see an ad by Pedro on a web site containing a scathing denouncement of him. "Why is Pedro sponsoring a web site full of bickering and conflict mongering?"
Bjorn clicked on the ad to learn more about Pedro's business, which he now suspected to be involved in something different from what he had first assumed. Reading about Pedro as the CEO of Lance, Bjorn had simply assumed that Lance was a company involved in the prison and detention camp industry, which was one of the few businesses currently doing well, with economic crisis and political unrest spreading like wildfire everywhere. But it made no sense for such a company to have an ad on the Blacklist, so Bjorn was now very much doubting his first assumption. And as it turned out, Lance was not a private prison company, or any such thing.
Lance Security was an insurance company offering what it called "disaster insurance", defined as "high cost, low probability events", with "criminal loss" being its core business, and accident and health insurance being offered as add-ons. The idea was that a person could start off by insuring him or herself against criminal loss, and then add on insurance for loss of property and health as needed. The basic product would pay out up to a thousand Gram in the event of loss of life, health or property due to a criminal event. And this basic insurance cost a "mere" half a Gram per year.
The basic product could be scaled up, from a maximum of a thousand Gram to as much as ten thousand Gram, by agreeing to pay correspondingly more in premiums. Adding accident and health to the basic product increased the cost in a similar manner. The insured person could in other words not buy anything cheaper than the basic product, so Lance's target customers were clearly people for whom a disaster would result in losses up to or beyond a full Kilogram of gold. And the website confirmed this by stating specifically that losses below ten Gram would not be compensated. However, all criminal losses should be reported regardless, it said, since a group action against a criminal element may nevertheless result in a pay out, even for minor losses.
Bjorn leant back in his office chair, contemplating what he had just read, and feeling content that he had finally found something concrete about Pedro's business in Lundby. Not only was Pedro claiming ownership of all public property in the village, he was aiming to make money off of people's fears as well.
From reading the complaint, it was clear that the journalist over at the Gazette had pick much of her material directly from the Blacklist. But there was also no doubt that the journalist had in fact been talking to both the stall owners and Pedro to get the full story. The complaint was relatively short and to the point, basically claiming that Pedro had no right to the village square, that the village square belonged to the people of Lundby, and that no one had the right to impose any kind of tax or restriction on the stall owners.
Pedro on his side begged to differ, of course, pointing to his claim to all the pubic areas of Lundby, including the village square. Directly below Pedro's comment, Jan had a short comment directed at both the stall owners and Pedro, suggesting they sort out their differences in his office in the casino. And directly under Jan's comment, there was a third and final comment written by the same Maria that had made a comment on Jan and Pedro's complaint against Ane.
Maria's comment was directed directly at the stall owners, basically saying that their complaint was confused and muddled, and lacking in precision, her main objection being that the village square could not possibly belongs to "the people" since no such entity exists. Then she went on to say that she would not touch the case before the stall owners sort out among themselves what exactly they were asking for.
And quite understandably, Maria's comment had a long tail of sub-comments, all from the plaintiffs, basically saying that she was the one confused, and that a further specification of who "the people" were was in any case besides the point. The stall owners had no intention of paying any kind of rent or tribute to Pedro, and would resist any attempt to force them into doing so.
"So, who is this Maria," Bjorn wondered. "Clearly some sort of self styled lawyer, judging from her pretentious remark about not wanting to touch the case." And with this in mind Bjorn clicked on her name in order to find out more which brought up the fact sheet on her, showing that she was not involved in any disputes at the moment. Bjorn clicked on Maria's name again to go to her personal details page which turned out to be surprisingly elaborate, with a picture of her face, a list of achievements and a whole lot of data on her career and education.
Maria was indeed a self styled lawyer of sorts, running a company called Independent Law. Maria offered what she called "arbitration services", claiming extensive experience with "private law", and her comments on the Blacklist were clearly all part of a marketing strategy from her side. By offering a quick initial analysis of the various disputes in the village, she was showing off her legal skills with a hope to attract paying customers for her arbitration services.
Bjorn looked at the picture of the woman with her thick black hair and almost child like appearance. She looked friendly and approachable, in contrast to her remarks on the Blacklist which had been pointy and almost aggressive in their criticism of the complaints. Then, looking over to the right hand margin of the page, Bjorn's attention was drawn to an ad that had stayed with him throughout his browsing of the Blacklist, but not caught his attention before now. It displayed a stylized icon of St. George slaying the dragon, under which it read Lance Security in gold letters, followed by a sub-title with the text: "To Serve and Protect".
"But isn't that Pedro's company?" Bjorn wondered, surprised to see an ad by Pedro on a web site containing a scathing denouncement of him. "Why is Pedro sponsoring a web site full of bickering and conflict mongering?"
Bjorn clicked on the ad to learn more about Pedro's business, which he now suspected to be involved in something different from what he had first assumed. Reading about Pedro as the CEO of Lance, Bjorn had simply assumed that Lance was a company involved in the prison and detention camp industry, which was one of the few businesses currently doing well, with economic crisis and political unrest spreading like wildfire everywhere. But it made no sense for such a company to have an ad on the Blacklist, so Bjorn was now very much doubting his first assumption. And as it turned out, Lance was not a private prison company, or any such thing.
Lance Security was an insurance company offering what it called "disaster insurance", defined as "high cost, low probability events", with "criminal loss" being its core business, and accident and health insurance being offered as add-ons. The idea was that a person could start off by insuring him or herself against criminal loss, and then add on insurance for loss of property and health as needed. The basic product would pay out up to a thousand Gram in the event of loss of life, health or property due to a criminal event. And this basic insurance cost a "mere" half a Gram per year.
The basic product could be scaled up, from a maximum of a thousand Gram to as much as ten thousand Gram, by agreeing to pay correspondingly more in premiums. Adding accident and health to the basic product increased the cost in a similar manner. The insured person could in other words not buy anything cheaper than the basic product, so Lance's target customers were clearly people for whom a disaster would result in losses up to or beyond a full Kilogram of gold. And the website confirmed this by stating specifically that losses below ten Gram would not be compensated. However, all criminal losses should be reported regardless, it said, since a group action against a criminal element may nevertheless result in a pay out, even for minor losses.
Bjorn leant back in his office chair, contemplating what he had just read, and feeling content that he had finally found something concrete about Pedro's business in Lundby. Not only was Pedro claiming ownership of all public property in the village, he was aiming to make money off of people's fears as well.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
64
The article on the conflict between the stall owners and Pedro had a link to the formal complaint logged by the stall owners, and curious to see what this looked like, Bjorn clicked on it to have it come up on his screen. The page with the complaint was set in a dark frame, with "The Blacklist" written in grey letters, as if set in stone, at the top. The subtitle stated, also in grey letters, that "all are innocent until proven guilty." And next to the title, there was a search field, and an option to go to an advanced search page.
The complaint itself was tidy and clean cut, with its title displayed at the top, followed by some basic information, such as status and location, a full list of the plaintiffs and the name of the defendant. Each person in the list was highlighted with a link, presumably to get to more details on each individual, and still curious to learn as much as he could about Pedro, Bjorn clicked on his name to see what more, if anything, the Blacklist had on him.
But instead of going directly to more personal information on Pedro, the link directed Bjorn to a short fact sheet containing only his name and contact details together with a list of accusations and another list of grievances in which he was presently involved. To get more personal details on Pedro, Bjorn had to click on Pedro's name again, but the page on Pedro was kept down to a bare minimum with no more than his full name and minimal contact details filled in.
So it was clear that Pedro's personal information page at the Blacklist did not tell Bjorn anything new. However, the short fact sheet on him did in fact tell Bjorn a little more, because it did not only list the dispute with the stall owners under open grievances against him, it also listed a dispute in which he was a plaintiff. Pedro was listed as having a grievance against Ane, and this surprised Bjorn so much that once he saw it he clicked the link to see what it was all about.
And sure enough, there it was. Pedro and Jan were complaining about Ane's fish factory. They were concerned about the pollution coming from it due to all the untreated fish waste that she was dumping into the fjord, and they wanted her to clean up her act. Their personal grievance against Ane was that her disregard for the environment would soon cause a stench, and thus negatively affect the value of the casino and the village square.
Bjorn looked at the date of the complaint, thinking it odd that it had been logged so soon after the factory had been opened. The factory was after all, only opened the day before, and it could not possibly be the case that the environment was already affected by this. And it looked like someone had had the exact same thought, because someone called Maria had made a comment on the complaint, very much to that effect. However, while Bjorn was reading Maria's short comment, another comment appeared, this one directed to Maria, and authored by Jan, saying that "we don't need to wait for the inevitable. There is no doubt that the untreated sewage will cause problems, and that this will damage our properties. Ane cannot simply ship her stench over to us without any kind of compensation. And it is not like the technology to treat her waste does not exist."
"Boy! These people don't kid around, do they?" Bjorn thought to himself. Then, curious to see what the Blacklist had on Ane, he clicked on her name to get up her short fact sheet, and then on her name again to go to her personal details. However, Ane's personal details page was not filled in. Instead the page asked him politely to fill in the page if he happened to be Ane. However, right below the polite invitation to fill in the details was a stern warning. "Do not fill in this page if you are not in fact Ane, or a person authorized by Ane," it said in bold red lettering. "Any abuse of the Blacklist is a crime and will be treated accordingly."
The complaint itself was tidy and clean cut, with its title displayed at the top, followed by some basic information, such as status and location, a full list of the plaintiffs and the name of the defendant. Each person in the list was highlighted with a link, presumably to get to more details on each individual, and still curious to learn as much as he could about Pedro, Bjorn clicked on his name to see what more, if anything, the Blacklist had on him.
But instead of going directly to more personal information on Pedro, the link directed Bjorn to a short fact sheet containing only his name and contact details together with a list of accusations and another list of grievances in which he was presently involved. To get more personal details on Pedro, Bjorn had to click on Pedro's name again, but the page on Pedro was kept down to a bare minimum with no more than his full name and minimal contact details filled in.
So it was clear that Pedro's personal information page at the Blacklist did not tell Bjorn anything new. However, the short fact sheet on him did in fact tell Bjorn a little more, because it did not only list the dispute with the stall owners under open grievances against him, it also listed a dispute in which he was a plaintiff. Pedro was listed as having a grievance against Ane, and this surprised Bjorn so much that once he saw it he clicked the link to see what it was all about.
And sure enough, there it was. Pedro and Jan were complaining about Ane's fish factory. They were concerned about the pollution coming from it due to all the untreated fish waste that she was dumping into the fjord, and they wanted her to clean up her act. Their personal grievance against Ane was that her disregard for the environment would soon cause a stench, and thus negatively affect the value of the casino and the village square.
Bjorn looked at the date of the complaint, thinking it odd that it had been logged so soon after the factory had been opened. The factory was after all, only opened the day before, and it could not possibly be the case that the environment was already affected by this. And it looked like someone had had the exact same thought, because someone called Maria had made a comment on the complaint, very much to that effect. However, while Bjorn was reading Maria's short comment, another comment appeared, this one directed to Maria, and authored by Jan, saying that "we don't need to wait for the inevitable. There is no doubt that the untreated sewage will cause problems, and that this will damage our properties. Ane cannot simply ship her stench over to us without any kind of compensation. And it is not like the technology to treat her waste does not exist."
"Boy! These people don't kid around, do they?" Bjorn thought to himself. Then, curious to see what the Blacklist had on Ane, he clicked on her name to get up her short fact sheet, and then on her name again to go to her personal details. However, Ane's personal details page was not filled in. Instead the page asked him politely to fill in the page if he happened to be Ane. However, right below the polite invitation to fill in the details was a stern warning. "Do not fill in this page if you are not in fact Ane, or a person authorized by Ane," it said in bold red lettering. "Any abuse of the Blacklist is a crime and will be treated accordingly."
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