7 ms·

In order to stay safe from the government, 1. Don't buy sparkling water if you're a college student 2. Don't bet with friends because an arbitrary threshold o

by alexvr 13y ago

In order to stay safe from the government, 1. Don't buy sparkling water if you're a college student 2. Don't bet with friends because an arbitrary threshold of about $2k warrants your execution 3. Don't tell American citizens that their government abuses its power, or you'll be charged with espionage 4. It's probably a bad idea to bear arms these days, because saying "Officer, I have a weapon in the trunk of my car" might give him reason to shoot you in self defense 5. You don't actually have free speech anymore, so be careful about that. If you threaten to shoot up a school, even jokingly and totally within your rights, you will be incarcerated for half a year before your trial. And who knows if the judge will let you off? You just have to pray for one who knows and abides by the constitution.

tokenadult 13y ago
3. Don't tell American citizens that their government abuses its power, or you'll be charged with espionage Point 3 is patently false. All of my Facebook friends, and I, regularly say that the United States government abuses its power, some from the right, some from the left, and many from a general freedom-loving perspective, and we all go on posting as we please. All of these statements are exaggerations. Many of these statements refer to problems that are much worse in other places. (If you think that arbitrary abuse by the police is the worst it can be in the United States, you haven't traveled very much.) Sure, protest fearlessly about any abuse you find anywhere. But don't lose sight of reality. AFTER EDIT: People who follow my comments on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tokenadult https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tokenadult will be well aware that I participate in public protests here in the United States, in full view of TV news cameras and police observers. (The last protest I participated in was across the street from the headquarters of the Minneapolis police department.) I am an equal-opportunity democracy movement activist, desiring more power for the people in every country of the world. As one of the grandchild comments to this comment has now said, it's silly to exaggerate conditions in the United States, as that just robs a comment of credibility. If you want to establish a better trend line for United States policy, be specific in your policy proposals, and make your policy proposals public fearlessly, early and often. Don't be an anonymous coward. Put your name behind your convictions. People power democracy movements that nudge countries from dictatorship to democracy can really work. I have seen it done. A successful movement for greater freedom requires great courage, and a degree of social trust among the movement participants that is not easy to find. Allow me to repeat advice I have shared here on Hacker News before. If you really want to be an idealistic but hard-headed freedom-fighter, mobilizing an effective popular movement for more freedom wherever you live, I suggest you read deeply in the free, downloadable publications of the Albert Einstein Institution, http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsde07.html http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsde07.html remembering that the transition from dictatorship to democracy described in those publications is an actual historical process with recent examples around the world that we can all learn from. You can find publications in more than a dozen languages there to share with your friends around the world.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- ryguytilidie 13y ago
  Ahhh yes, the "these problems are worse in other places" Okay, you're right, so lets never try to fix them. Because Russian police are abusive we should count ourselves lucky that our own police force isn't AT LEAST that bad. Sure, they go out of their way to murder people for no reason, but we can't be man about that, we should simply be thankful that there are worse police agencies that exist. And yeah, your point that the govt won't abuse the shit out of its power if you are a whistleblower makes me wonder if you've been living under a rock recently. I imagine you don't think it was any big deal that the US coerced other countries into not allowing the Bolivian President use their airspace because the US was upset with Bolivia offering Snowden asylum? But yeah, you're right man, no abuses whatsoever will occur if you are a whistleblower... The type of self awareness one would have to lack to get to the point where they are making the point you just made is staggering.
- akiselev 13y ago
  Oh yeah it's all much worse in other places. We're still "better" than all the dictatorships and authoritarian governments in the world, and that makes it all just fine and dandy. The only people losing sight of reality are the ones deluded into thinking that America/ns is/are immune to what appears to be a fundamental feature of power: corruption. By point 3 he meant actions by USG whistle blowers with access to classified information, not a civilian's facebook account.
  - Kylekramer 13y ago
    There is a problem with broad statements like the grandparent comment. College students buy water everyday without trouble, people own guns without being harassed daily, people makes bets daily without any trouble, people make joking threats daily without incident. There is plenty bad going on without the need for exaggerations and outright lies. If you want reality to change, you have to accept reality. Skewing it to the most sensationalistic interpretation only makes it easier to dismiss.
JulianMorrison 13y ago
Also don't be black, poor, trans, or a sex worker (and if you're black, poor and trans, you'd better dress like a nun, or the police will read you as a sex worker). People in those categories usually don't even make it as far as an outraged Salon article.
- alexvr 13y ago
  What a sad truth, especially the last part
- VladRussian2 13y ago
  yep, as they say - being black is a probable cause.
  - babby 13y ago
    And lets not pretend that it isn't a stereotype without warrant. Not going to go into the racial factors, more the cultural. It's just simply more likely that blacks will be criminals in certain areas - humans have evolved to generalize things like this for survival's sake.
lawnchair_larry 13y ago
6. Don't have $20 buy-in poker games and Steven Seagal driving a tank into that guys living room for fighting chickens...wow.
anonymous 13y ago
6. Become a mormon (mormons are highly regarded by the NSA as naturally suited to following orders). 7. Become a cop. A proper one, not just a security guard or something. I wonder how applicable 7 is if you're an immigrant. You might get charged with espionage or something.
- Osiris 13y ago
  My family is Mormon (LDS) and two of my brother's are cops, so we definitely have this covered. What I can say is that cops seem to get indoctrinated as part of their training about the rule of law and the need to enforce laws "because it's the law" without thought or common sense applied to each situation.
solistice 13y ago
6. Do not come into posession of short lobsters. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/alobsterstail.htm http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/alobsterst...
Ygg2 13y ago
Additional things to not do: 6. Write 'disturbing' material (for any definition of disturbing) 7. Own a permanent marker 8. Connect to an unsecured WiFi 9. Use a fake name on the Internet

by alexvr 13y ago

tokenadult 13y ago

3. Don't tell American citizens that their government abuses its power, or you'll be charged with espionage Point 3 is patently false. All of my Facebook friends, and I, regularly say that the United States government abuses its power, some from the right, some from the left, and many from a general freedom-loving perspective, and we all go on posting as we please. All of these statements are exaggerations. Many of these statements refer to problems that are much worse in other places. (If you think that arbitrary abuse by the police is the worst it can be in the United States, you haven't traveled very much.) Sure, protest fearlessly about any abuse you find anywhere. But don't lose sight of reality. AFTER EDIT: People who follow my comments on Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tokenadult https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=tokenadult will be well aware that I participate in public protests here in the United States, in full view of TV news cameras and police observers. (The last protest I participated in was across the street from the headquarters of the Minneapolis police department.) I am an equal-opportunity democracy movement activist, desiring more power for the people in every country of the world. As one of the grandchild comments to this comment has now said, it's silly to exaggerate conditions in the United States, as that just robs a comment of credibility. If you want to establish a better trend line for United States policy, be specific in your policy proposals, and make your policy proposals public fearlessly, early and often. Don't be an anonymous coward. Put your name behind your convictions. People power democracy movements that nudge countries from dictatorship to democracy can really work. I have seen it done. A successful movement for greater freedom requires great courage, and a degree of social trust among the movement participants that is not easy to find. Allow me to repeat advice I have shared here on Hacker News before. If you really want to be an idealistic but hard-headed freedom-fighter, mobilizing an effective popular movement for more freedom wherever you live, I suggest you read deeply in the free, downloadable publications of the Albert Einstein Institution, http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsde07.html http://www.aeinstein.org/organizationsde07.html remembering that the transition from dictatorship to democracy described in those publications is an actual historical process with recent examples around the world that we can all learn from. You can find publications in more than a dozen languages there to share with your friends around the world.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
ryguytilidie 13y ago
Ahhh yes, the "these problems are worse in other places" Okay, you're right, so lets never try to fix them. Because Russian police are abusive we should count ourselves lucky that our own police force isn't AT LEAST that bad. Sure, they go out of their way to murder people for no reason, but we can't be man about that, we should simply be thankful that there are worse police agencies that exist. And yeah, your point that the govt won't abuse the shit out of its power if you are a whistleblower makes me wonder if you've been living under a rock recently. I imagine you don't think it was any big deal that the US coerced other countries into not allowing the Bolivian President use their airspace because the US was upset with Bolivia offering Snowden asylum? But yeah, you're right man, no abuses whatsoever will occur if you are a whistleblower... The type of self awareness one would have to lack to get to the point where they are making the point you just made is staggering.
akiselev 13y ago
Oh yeah it's all much worse in other places. We're still "better" than all the dictatorships and authoritarian governments in the world, and that makes it all just fine and dandy. The only people losing sight of reality are the ones deluded into thinking that America/ns is/are immune to what appears to be a fundamental feature of power: corruption. By point 3 he meant actions by USG whistle blowers with access to classified information, not a civilian's facebook account.
- Kylekramer 13y ago
  There is a problem with broad statements like the grandparent comment. College students buy water everyday without trouble, people own guns without being harassed daily, people makes bets daily without any trouble, people make joking threats daily without incident. There is plenty bad going on without the need for exaggerations and outright lies. If you want reality to change, you have to accept reality. Skewing it to the most sensationalistic interpretation only makes it easier to dismiss.

JulianMorrison 13y ago

Also don't be black, poor, trans, or a sex worker (and if you're black, poor and trans, you'd better dress like a nun, or the police will read you as a sex worker). People in those categories usually don't even make it as far as an outraged Salon article.

alexvr 13y ago
What a sad truth, especially the last part
VladRussian2 13y ago
yep, as they say - being black is a probable cause.
- babby 13y ago
  And lets not pretend that it isn't a stereotype without warrant. Not going to go into the racial factors, more the cultural. It's just simply more likely that blacks will be criminals in certain areas - humans have evolved to generalize things like this for survival's sake.

lawnchair_larry 13y ago

6. Don't have $20 buy-in poker games and Steven Seagal driving a tank into that guys living room for fighting chickens...wow.

anonymous 13y ago

6. Become a mormon (mormons are highly regarded by the NSA as naturally suited to following orders). 7. Become a cop. A proper one, not just a security guard or something. I wonder how applicable 7 is if you're an immigrant. You might get charged with espionage or something.

Osiris 13y ago
My family is Mormon (LDS) and two of my brother's are cops, so we definitely have this covered. What I can say is that cops seem to get indoctrinated as part of their training about the rule of law and the need to enforce laws "because it's the law" without thought or common sense applied to each situation.

solistice 13y ago

6. Do not come into posession of short lobsters. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/alobsterstail.htm http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/alobsterst...

Ygg2 13y ago

Additional things to not do: 6. Write 'disturbing' material (for any definition of disturbing) 7. Own a permanent marker 8. Connect to an unsecured WiFi 9. Use a fake name on the Internet