Ignore me! You may have the feeling that you're being watched. Don't worry about it. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtains. They're doing their best to get to everyone. It just happens to be your turn.
Yes, maybe it would make more sense to exercise their surveillance powers on those most likely to be involved in criminal activities. This might mean doing actual investigative work and following logical leads, but sometimes the temptation is too great to just take a swing at the low-hanging fruit. This means there's a stronger than nil statistical chance of violating the privacy of people without legitimate cause.
You want me to trust incomparable surveillance and intelligence gathering power in someone else's hands? I'm willing to trust Santa and Superman (and maybe a few of his friends) with that sort of resource, but that's a pretty short list. They each have a proven record, though, that proves their judgement can be trusted.
The illusion of "oversight" is fantasy. The people who worm their way into government continue to prove that they will do what they can, in the name of expediency, to circumvent any oversight or control procedure we put in place. This automatically means that we have lawbreakers (scofflaws, if you prefer) making assessments on the activities of anyone they choose to pay attention to. Convenience and security are not worth the sacrifice of Freedom.
Checks, balances and oversights are created with the intention of preventing abuses of powerful tools. Government servants are taking it upon themselves to decide that they don't need the safety measures, opening the processes they're using to abuse. Show us that no one has ever been wrongfully prosecuted by the IRS or the FBI or any police agency, or that no one has ever been harmed by the medical system and we'll talk. Otherwise, safety measures are demanded for virtually every potentially dangerous product in our lives, why not surveillance/enforcement toys, too?
On top of all that, it seems that 69-year-old Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca, smuggler) was stopped in Denver by the TSA because of his suspicious cane. Are they still looking for tall, old foreign guys? Have they not heard that Osama Bin Laden was taken out of action? Have they merely tipped their hand, revealing that they side with the Galactic Empire? Well, like they say, we're not paranoid enough, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that it happens on both sides of the line. It'd be nice, though, if our government servants would remember that they work for us, which means we should all be on the same side of the line.
It doesn't matter what political system is in place or what toys they have at their disposal; it is human nature to abuse the rules, to try to get a leg up over everyone else, to hoist oneself and one's family and friends, clan, if you will, above the others.
ReplyDeleteThere is us, and there is them. That's how we're wired.
There is no escape.
If you turn your back on civilization and laws/rules of co-operation, you will have the Law of the Jungle; kill or be killed.
If you're the richest person in the world and buy yourself an island to get away from it all and do things exactly the way you want them, there will be pirates.
People will never agree on how things should be.
Even in countries where all the people pretty much agree on things, sects and elements rise up that don't agree and cause trouble.
Life is struggle.
We evolved with life as struggle.
Only the strongest, meanest, most ruthless, and most lucky survived.
The top predator in the sea, the shark, is a killing machine. It evolved that way.
Now the top predator on land, humankind, is wiping the sharks out.
If a political system is really bad (ie the people really really don't like it) , it will be destroyed; the French Revolution /Czar Nicholas of Russia.
The only way to have liberty and justice for all, is to change human nature from warlike, selfish and self serving, to peaceful and altruistic.
I can see problems even with that.
All too true. The first Matrix failed as readily as that garden east of Eden. Too perfect doesn't work for us. We're not that species. We must have struggle, contention, conflict. No prize can be too easily won lest we find it too sweet and crave bitterness. Retire at 50 and you'll be dead by 52. Work to 100 and you'll love life.
DeleteI still want all the politicians jailed, but I don't mind if they put up a bit of struggle while they're dragged off to Guantanamo. I think I'd prefer it.