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Moreover the technology developed to "hunt terrorists" can be turned against the population much more easily than the rockets, nuclear weapons and computer syst
by angersock 12y ago
Moreover the technology developed to "hunt terrorists" can be turned against the population much more easily than the rockets, nuclear weapons and computer systems of the past.
You've hit on it in a nutshell, I think.
The entire War on Terror is predicated upon the idea that a) we must ferret out and neutralize threats before they manifest and b) we must occupy regions which may generate threats.
Those two policies directly manifest in the development of advanced surveillance and techniques of oppression. Even more sickeningly, there is no way of proving it wrong: if something bad happens, the answer is to increase efforts; and if nothing bad happens, the answer is not to cutback the defenses that presumably prevented that nothing.
We're doomed.
- TheCraiggers 12y agoUsually, I would say that we just have to wait for some sort of wake up call, something the US government fucks up so incredibly that anything involving surveillance of an innocent populace is a poison pill. But we've already had the Snowden leaks, and if that wasn't a wake up call, I don't know what else could be.
- e12e 12y agoThe next logical step is death squads, drone surveillance (and strikes?) and kidnappings on US soil, not just abroad. I hope it won't come to that, but I fear it will. Maybe not until 2050 or so, though. Judging by current operations abroad, and historic evidence, like who and how Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) (Nee School of Americas) have been training and for what, things like COINTELPRO -- things are looking grim. [ed: not to mention the lack of consequences from Snowden and the CIA torture report -- there doesn't appear to be even a thin veneer of acountability left.]