3 ms·

It is a shitty comparison game to get into in the first place with insane agendas. Akin yo complaining "Why does the gun shop owner sell to the one guy who shot

It is a shitty comparison game to get into in the first place with insane agendas. Akin yo complaining "Why does the gun shop owner sell to the one guy who shot his wife but not my abusive husband? That is totally unfair!".

andrewjl 6y ago
The fact is, Google is a US company and they benefit from the security provided by those agencies. Your analogy, colorful as it may be, belies reality.
- Nasrudith 6y ago
  Security theater really - what does their snooping give other than the ability to say "We technically knew about it! It was right here in the pile!" afterwards? Its true purposes are self serving and to be a rhetorical justification escape hatch of National Security to ensure impunity. Bad actions are bad regardless of the flag they drape themselves in or any fallacious affinity that assumes what is liked by an actor on behalf of us is good for us. Should we be grateful that a "lobbyist" "donated" a big pile of cocaine to our senators?
  - andrewjl 6y ago
    > Security theater really Use of this phrase in this context indicates either a naive or incomplete understanding of the constitutional order, i.e. how government works in practice as opposed to as an idealism, which is the foundation for understanding constitutional governance and it's practices. Reading Hobbes as well as Montesquieu, particularly the Spirit of Laws should dispel the notion of security theater in a pejorative sense. Also, unless you have some special insight, you cannot for sure say what has been prevented. Therefore any speculation on "true purposes" is just that, speculation. > Bad actions are bad regardless of the flag they drape themselves in or any fallacious affinity that assumes what is liked by an actor on behalf of us is good for us. I'm in full agreement there. I'm grateful to live in a society where the government can be held to account, both legally and via elections. Not everyone is so lucky.

andrewjl 6y ago

The fact is, Google is a US company and they benefit from the security provided by those agencies. Your analogy, colorful as it may be, belies reality.

Nasrudith 6y ago
Security theater really - what does their snooping give other than the ability to say "We technically knew about it! It was right here in the pile!" afterwards? Its true purposes are self serving and to be a rhetorical justification escape hatch of National Security to ensure impunity. Bad actions are bad regardless of the flag they drape themselves in or any fallacious affinity that assumes what is liked by an actor on behalf of us is good for us. Should we be grateful that a "lobbyist" "donated" a big pile of cocaine to our senators?
- andrewjl 6y ago
  > Security theater really Use of this phrase in this context indicates either a naive or incomplete understanding of the constitutional order, i.e. how government works in practice as opposed to as an idealism, which is the foundation for understanding constitutional governance and it's practices. Reading Hobbes as well as Montesquieu, particularly the Spirit of Laws should dispel the notion of security theater in a pejorative sense. Also, unless you have some special insight, you cannot for sure say what has been prevented. Therefore any speculation on "true purposes" is just that, speculation. > Bad actions are bad regardless of the flag they drape themselves in or any fallacious affinity that assumes what is liked by an actor on behalf of us is good for us. I'm in full agreement there. I'm grateful to live in a society where the government can be held to account, both legally and via elections. Not everyone is so lucky.