3 ms·
It sounds like you have never needed to organize against a government which threatens your safety, or that you haven't found yourself engaging in any activities
by soulofmischief 2y ago
It sounds like you have never needed to organize against a government which threatens your safety, or that you haven't found yourself engaging in any activities that were well-protected at the dawn of the US Constitution but are now considered to be felonious, whether for self-medication, as an act of protest, or as an act of survival.
This means that you have a lot to be grateful for, but your perspective is privileged and may not take into account that not every life is like yours. You don't feel the chains of oppression until you need to break them. I would recommend considering what kind of person might not benefit from mass surveillance in this current political climate where students are disappearing just for protesting against a religious genocide.
You could definitely argue that surveillance is inevitable as a technology; but the government is supposed to serve its people, and without strong guarantees of established freedoms and protection from the negative effects of mass surveillance, the people should not allow the government to engage in such surveillance. Especially not the dragnet style of surveillance that is common today, and especially in the wake of modern analysis tools where prejudice can be automated.
- mixmastamyk 2y agoThis is a great comment marred by the “students disappearing” statement. An earned but short jail sentence or deportation is quite distinct from a one-way ticket to the gulag, unfortunately implied.
- soulofmischief 2y agoI could have chosen my language better. But in general, corporate and state-sponsored surveillance of students and protestors goes back many decades, and we have seen enough witch hunts over things like Communism, Vietnam protestors, psychedelic users, etc. that we simply cannot allow our local, state and federal governments in their current shape to wield mass surveillance, because they will not do it ethically.
- miohtama 2y agoLast time British had guts to organise anything about their shitty government they first sailed to a new continent.