5 ms·

A Friend of the Devil: Inside a Famous Cold War Deception

49 points by acsillag 12y ago

throwawayaway 12y ago
> The C.I.A. did not buy into the adage that the student leader of today is the student leader of tomorrow. It calculated that the heads of national student organizations were likely some day to become important figures in their countries’ governments. When that happened (and it often did), the American government had a file on them. And yet today students are perfectly willing to detail the minutiae of their lives on their online permanent record.
- snlacks 12y ago
  Two factors play into this publicity of private individual lives. If everyone's skeletons are out in the open for everyone else to see, they're no longer skeletons. What one social group considers a skeleton in their closet, another considers a badge of honor. I benefitted from this, I'm into and have been into all sorts of things that would have socially stigmatized me 50 years ago. Meanwhile, someone else who is racist or beats their spouse or kids is likely to face social condemnation. Times change, in this case, for the better.
  - throwawayaway 12y ago
    I agree times have changed for the better, I'm not sure that can be counted on continuing forever. We have a morality of the here and now and whether the morality of tomorrow is the same or better is up for debate. I don't think that STD's, alcoholism, drug abuse or mental health issues are ever going to be considered badges of honour over the course of people's careers. If you don't believe that the "delete" and "mark private" features of these online publishing things work, well there's a lot of juicy info there for the taking on tomorrow's public figures.
    - snlacks 12y ago
      Definitely, there's going to be a lot of (fun?) surprises for people who don't quite get the nature of a digital image or video. I've know digital pack rats that save other people's photos. I don't think STDs and youthful alcoholism will be badges of honor, but I think there's an undercurrent of people feeling as if we all have baggage of one type or another. They're much more likely to be ruled out of public office for pictures of themselves wearing "race face" or date rape bragging or something. I switched from skeletons to baggage for my clichés...
london888 12y ago
Is it my fault for too much coffee and being irritable or is the article extremely difficult to read?
- kazinator 12y ago
  But think how much harder, still, it would be without the snooty diaeresis on "coöperation".
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    That is simply part of the style of some publications.
    - kazinator 12y ago
      It is not style. It's just a way of saying, "we are above all the philistine modifications that have damaged the English language and its orthography for over a century". Style occurs when you use word choice to impress the reader, not when you place some outdated droppings over a letter which you regard as compulsory. They use the diaeresis because they regard its absence to be incorrect. Which means that they regard everyone who writes "cooperation" as committing an error. Hence, snooty. I wonder, do these pompous pricks tell their children to write that way in school? Or answer that way in spelling bees? I can just see it: "Hey Johnny, spell cooperation!" "Cee, oh, oh-with-a-diaeresis, pee, ...". Or maybe they feed them crap like, "Johnny, at school, just play along and use the dumb spelling okay? But between us at home, we know better, don't we! We write it as coöperation with the two dots." "Dad, you mean among us, don't you?" "No, I mean between. Mommy left a note that she won't be coming home any more, so it's just you and me. Pardon me, you and I."
  - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
    It is known that the umlaut makes everything cööler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut
- teh_klev 12y ago
lmm 12y ago
This is an interesting side to the oddly favourable treatment America gives private charitable foundations, both in tax terms and more generally. Tangentially related: http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-philanthropy-democracy http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-philanthropy-d...
stefantalpalaru 12y ago
Civil society organizations perverted and controlled by those parts of the state that operate outside the law? Just like in the enemy camp? Oh, don't worry about it, it's perfectly justified by the common good. Just like in the enemy camp.
- dguaraglia 12y ago
  If only people could wrap their heads around this, there'd be a chance for things to improve. The way things are, though, most people still believe the American government can do no wrong and every other nation is out to get us. It's so disappointing.
  - dguaraglia 12y ago
    Case in point.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
rurban 12y ago
So that's why after 67 they decided to fund themselves and friends with black drug money? Hmm...

49 points by acsillag 12y ago

> The C.I.A. did not buy into the adage that the student leader of today is the student leader of tomorrow. It calculated that the heads of national student organizations were likely some day to become important figures in their countries’ governments. When that happened (and it often did), the American government had a file on them. And yet today students are perfectly willing to detail the minutiae of their lives on their online permanent record.

snlacks 12y ago
Two factors play into this publicity of private individual lives. If everyone's skeletons are out in the open for everyone else to see, they're no longer skeletons. What one social group considers a skeleton in their closet, another considers a badge of honor. I benefitted from this, I'm into and have been into all sorts of things that would have socially stigmatized me 50 years ago. Meanwhile, someone else who is racist or beats their spouse or kids is likely to face social condemnation. Times change, in this case, for the better.
- throwawayaway 12y ago
  I agree times have changed for the better, I'm not sure that can be counted on continuing forever. We have a morality of the here and now and whether the morality of tomorrow is the same or better is up for debate. I don't think that STD's, alcoholism, drug abuse or mental health issues are ever going to be considered badges of honour over the course of people's careers. If you don't believe that the "delete" and "mark private" features of these online publishing things work, well there's a lot of juicy info there for the taking on tomorrow's public figures.
  - snlacks 12y ago
    Definitely, there's going to be a lot of (fun?) surprises for people who don't quite get the nature of a digital image or video. I've know digital pack rats that save other people's photos. I don't think STDs and youthful alcoholism will be badges of honor, but I think there's an undercurrent of people feeling as if we all have baggage of one type or another. They're much more likely to be ruled out of public office for pictures of themselves wearing "race face" or date rape bragging or something. I switched from skeletons to baggage for my clichés...

london888 12y ago

Is it my fault for too much coffee and being irritable or is the article extremely difficult to read?

kazinator 12y ago
But think how much harder, still, it would be without the snooty diaeresis on "coöperation".
- nitrogen 12y ago
  That is simply part of the style of some publications.
  - kazinator 12y ago
    It is not style. It's just a way of saying, "we are above all the philistine modifications that have damaged the English language and its orthography for over a century". Style occurs when you use word choice to impress the reader, not when you place some outdated droppings over a letter which you regard as compulsory. They use the diaeresis because they regard its absence to be incorrect. Which means that they regard everyone who writes "cooperation" as committing an error. Hence, snooty. I wonder, do these pompous pricks tell their children to write that way in school? Or answer that way in spelling bees? I can just see it: "Hey Johnny, spell cooperation!" "Cee, oh, oh-with-a-diaeresis, pee, ...". Or maybe they feed them crap like, "Johnny, at school, just play along and use the dumb spelling okay? But between us at home, we know better, don't we! We write it as coöperation with the two dots." "Dad, you mean among us, don't you?" "No, I mean between. Mommy left a note that she won't be coming home any more, so it's just you and me. Pardon me, you and I."
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  It is known that the umlaut makes everything cööler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut
teh_klev 12y ago

lmm 12y ago

This is an interesting side to the oddly favourable treatment America gives private charitable foundations, both in tax terms and more generally. Tangentially related: http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-philanthropy-democracy http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-philanthropy-d...

stefantalpalaru 12y ago

Civil society organizations perverted and controlled by those parts of the state that operate outside the law? Just like in the enemy camp? Oh, don't worry about it, it's perfectly justified by the common good. Just like in the enemy camp.

dguaraglia 12y ago
If only people could wrap their heads around this, there'd be a chance for things to improve. The way things are, though, most people still believe the American government can do no wrong and every other nation is out to get us. It's so disappointing.
- dguaraglia 12y ago
  Case in point.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

rurban 12y ago

So that's why after 67 they decided to fund themselves and friends with black drug money? Hmm...