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I have trouble preaching privacy when the "what about terrorists?" card gets pulled. I can tell them how the NSA's bulk collection of phone calls stopped 0 terr
by P41M0N0 5y ago
I have trouble preaching privacy when the "what about terrorists?" card gets pulled. I can tell them how the NSA's bulk collection of phone calls stopped 0 terrorist attacks, but as long as they can name 1 incident where breach of public privacy prevented an attack, it's worth it. I really don't think it is, but I'm not sure how to convey a reason which will resonate with them.
- aksss 5y agoThis isn't just the privacy convo - it's 2A, it's helmet laws, it's CPS being called on "unattended kids", it's legalization. Freedom means absorbing and managing risk in ways that acknowledge some level of harm is acceptable. That's the very difficult conversation you're running into. How to tell that person that the one attack prevented was not worth the privacy invaded for the million other instances. Crack that nut and you've figured something important out, rhetorically. Because socially, and in our education system, we're not doing a very good job coaching people about or taking pride in the idea of "acceptable risk".