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I think the more prudent approach in the modern age is to simply assume that all states control organizations within their midst with the intention of posing a
by aa-jv 2y ago
I think the more prudent approach in the modern age is to simply assume that all states control organizations within their midst with the intention of posing a threat to citizens - foreign and domestic - and a misplaced trust in ones own state above all others is not only naive, but super dangerous.
If you're not holding your own government to the standards you apply to other states, you're putting yourself in danger.
Especially given the fact that the USA and its partners operates the largest, by far, information gathering/human rights abusing apparatus with well-known subversive purposes, by a long margin..
- rectang 2y agoI agree with this, but would extend the distrust to all concentrations of power. Supremely wealthy corporations and individuals, although on their own lacking the state’s monopoly on violence, eventually co-opt the state through regulatory capture or other means (although they can ruin lives even without the state’s power). See Elon Musk for a particularly vivid contemporary example.
- aa-jv 2y agoThis is clear, long before Elon Musk came along - although previously, these corporate-capture individuals have worked to hide their malign influence, and in Musks' case, he seems more inclined to make it obvious and open. Although it has to be stated, I don't think Elon has been calling for the bombing of innocent human beings at the same rate as his predecessors.