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This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Fewer than 1% of the people I know live in a state of active fear of our government. There are certainly nefar
by csallen 12y ago
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Fewer than 1% of the people I know live in a state of active fear of our government. There are certainly nefarious goals behind many incidents of mass surveillance, but "perpetuat[ing] a culture of mass fear" is not one of them. The vast majority of people don't even know this is going on, let alone care.
- chongli 12y agoThose people are also not participating/planning any protests or other forms of civil disobedience. They are irrelevant, as far as the elite are concerned.
- csallen 12y agoNot true. Tons of my friends participate in protests.
- baddox 12y agoOf these people you know, how would most of them react initially if they received an unexpected letter or phone call from the IRS?
- csallen 12y agoI fail to see the point of your question. Elaborate?
- baddox 12y agoMy point is that there probably isn't a state of active fear of the government for most people, as in they're literally cowering in a corner. Of course, this is nearly literally true for some people today (like Edward Snowden) and has been literally true for lots of people in certain governments in recent history. But anyway, despite there not being an active fear for most people, there certainly would be an immediate fear upon receiving word from the IRS, because the tax system is so hopelessly complex that every single filer is almost certainly guilty of violating some law.
- csallen 12y agoYeah I agree with everything you're saying here. I still think the parent's claim is absolutely absurd (that the USPS tracks mail in order to perpetuate a culture of mass fear and create income inequality).
- trhway 12y ago>Fewer than 1% of the people I know live in a state of active fear of our government. obviously the government is just at the beginning of the road and has a lot of work to do. Anyway, the majority of people in the society is just a cattle and are steered easily without any explicit fear. It is the active minority which is need to be put under control.
- csallen 12y agoNot true. Our government and the people inside of it have a long history of intimidating people. Read about the first and second Red Scares, as well as the career of J. Edgar Hoover. We are a long way away from "the beginning of the road". Before we start making pronouncements about how bad things are today, it's important to understand history so we can put things in context.
- watwut 12y agoThe vast majority of people is not important, important is whether they feel comfortable to challenge those in power or not. State of active fear in everybody is not what it is about. The "benefit" is state when you think twice before you donate to Wikileaks or when you hesitate to voice support for Occupy Wall Street, because they might have been used against you at some point. It is also the state when those you donated or joined occupy have to be more careful about what they do and say, because they know things said in supposedly private conversations might be twisted against them.
- csallen 12y agoI know a few people who participated in Occupy Wall Street, and I myself have publicly spoken out in favor of Wikileaks. Having to "think twice" about doing either of these things is natural and hardly a "culture of mass fear", whether the post office is tracking mail or not.