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This was being praised on NPR recently. The young host was ecstatically talking about how the CEO of some company says "we kinda gave up our rights to privacy w
by dgzl 7y ago
This was being praised on NPR recently. The young host was ecstatically talking about how the CEO of some company says "we kinda gave up our rights to privacy with the digital age", and that these surveillance measures are able to spot trouble students.
The host then talked himself into making the comparison between this activity and how Russia treats surveillance, and confusedly asking his guest "wait, we're not like the Russians are we? That can't be right..." After some interaction, the host was eager to talk about the programs again.
Why are people so willing to give up their rights?
- adamnemecek 7y ago> Why are people so willing to give up their rights? Students have no rights. I find it despicable but it's a fact.
- dgzl 7y agoChildren do have rights. And the parent is waiving their children's rights by putting them in garbage public school.
- adamnemecek 7y agoIt's not about public vs private.
- b_tterc_p 7y agoOr, you know, can’t afford the massive cost of private school or timesink of homeschooling?
- a1369209993 7y agoIf someone other than the child can waive those rights, then they never had rights[0] in the first place. 0: Or, more pedantically, the rights that are inalienable to them by virtue of being a person were never not violated. Or, more comprehendibly, they never had acknowledgement and enforcement[1] of those rights by the legal system. 1: I assume "children do have [acknowledgement and enforcement of their preexisting] rights" is what dgzl intended to convey.
- mindslight 7y agoI know your question was half-rhetorical, but people as a group follow authority figures. Asserting one's rights requires self-actualization, correctly extrapolating narrow rights into actions that remain within the bounds of those rights, going against a "professional" who is in charge, going against the social herd (and your own mirror neurons) who are judging you for not simply complying, generally making your position worse off than if you had complied, and then repeatedly doing this hoping that it will catch on. IMO the US style adversarial system where eg cops can outright lie to you to nullify your rights are mindlessly naive. Having to do all of the above is basically market inefficiency, with the default being set by only the regulations the professionals have to follow. In retrospect the ethos couldn't have been better designed to foster totalitarianism. Straw men such as not being "like Russia" or "like China" just prop up the cognitive dissonance. That is what happened to that radio host who accidentally made the badthink connection between US surveillance and Russian surveillance.
- userbinator 7y agoWhy are people so willing to give up their rights? A lot of people are very happy to lead docile, ignorant lives, and be "protected" from any (real or imagined) threats. I think it's mostly a "I'm not doing anything wrong, why should I care?" type of thinking. As the infamous saying goes, "Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither."
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- godelski 7y ago> I'm not doing anything wrong, why should I care? I always hate this, because we've seen all throughout history that legal wrong and moral wrong are different things. You can do something that is legally wrong and morally right. Lots of laws change for this reason. It is no longer illegal to have an interracial marriage. Or a gay marriage. I think part of this thinking is "we've come so far" but people don't realize those things weren't that long ago and similar things are happening today.
- leereeves 7y agoAnd people's definition of morally wrong also differs. Even if the people in power now consider everything you're doing both morally and legally right, that could change when power changes hands, and the system you once supported can be turned against you.
- darkpuma 7y agoEven when you're morally and legally in the right, sometimes people get harassed anyway. Lots of whistle-blowers have had their lives turned upside-down for doing the right thing. Too few people understand that privacy protects the innocent as well, not only the guilty.
- andrei_says_ 7y agoLaws also change the other way around. For the longest time it was not illegal to be Jewish, or a Roma. Or an intellectual or an activist. I suggest seeing The Lives of Others, a beautiful film about East Germany’s surveillance and it’s influence on people.
- astazangasta 7y agoPeople on NPR are specifically being paid to advance these viewpoints, so I wouldn't view them as representative. Meanwhile ad blockers are ubiquitous, indicating most people aren't "kinda" into giving up their privacy.
- lilsoso 7y ago“I want to believe.” Do you have any evidence for that bold claim?
- astazangasta 7y agohttps://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-about-privacy-security-and-surveillance/pi_15-05-20_privacysecurityattd00/ https://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-a...
- lilsoso 7y agoI meant the claim that "People on NPR are specifically being paid to advance these viewpoints." I would expect that's difficult to support. Aside from, perhaps, guests that are funded by think tanks. Or, I suppose, even professors.
- lonelappde 7y agoPeople block ads because ads are annoying. Those same people freely use cred cards and grocery loyalty cards.
- dredmorbius 7y agoSome do. Some don't.