In quotes adapted from published reactions by Americans to the outrageous revelation that the government is spying on all Americans, let’s wonder what it would take to stir up anger or surprise.
Collective Shrug
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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C’mon, Ted, you really think the losers in this country are going to give a damn about giving up their rights? They haven’t said or done a thing about the war on the middle class so if they don’t care about their economic well-being why would they care about something as abstract as rights? The police have been out of control and committing horrific crimes against the population (Police Brutality – It Not Just for Black People Anymore!) and no one cares. If the possibility of having a bully in a uniform with the full power of the militarized state on his side beat the shit out of you doesn’t scare people, then what will? NSA spying? No way, you give this nation of losers, morons, and pussies way too much credit.
I was seriously disturbed when I got that nonchalant, unconcerned response, “They’ve probably done that for a long time.”
I’ve often said that the 1st Amendment doesn’t mean much when it isn’t backed up by ones such as 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. We don’t have 1st Amendment rights if the state can survey, arrest, and imprison us for any excuse.
I know most people are very ignorant of the Constitution and think it’s OK for a ‘free’ society to allow torture and extrajudicial killings, but I really thought people intrinsically understood that constant pervasive surveillance was ‘anti-freedom,’ as they might say. For all the cultural focus on Nazis and Communists I thought they’d remember undue surveillance was something only at home in places like WWII Germany or Communist China.
The funny thing is in a few years these people will remain safe. The blissfully ignorant pose no threat to the state. It’ll be their best asset. The worker drones of 1984 had little to fear. It was the ones who knew more and wanted more who were targeted.
More frightening than the undeniable fact that they don’t understand the Constitution is the fact that many Americans don’t seem to have any high bar for what constitutes a free society, or that they believe that they have the right to live in one, or that everyone has the right to live in one. There just aren’t any standards anymore.
Jack, the proles got killed by “Steamers”. But the Lottery and Sports kept them subservient.
Tyler, I don’t get your meaning, “Steamers.” I was mainly referring to dutiful outer party members, but if I recall correctly, the proles were mostly ignored too. It’s becoming more difficult for me to enjoy any kind of entertainment knowing the real purpose of it and how most people take it so seriously. It all reminds me of the alcohol provided for the pre-Progressive Era worker.
Say Hitler had managed to gas all the Jews. I mean that he tracked down all of them. Everywhere. Gassed them all, burned the bodies. Do you think he would have simply had the whole Concentration Camp system torn down? Or would he have kept it running to use on the next biggest enemy?
Bonus question 1: If the NSA is collecting all this information, and gets funding to do so, what will happen if it is ever asked whether it’s doing anything useful with that information? In other words: If you run out of Jews, you’ll find someone else to scapegoat.
Bonus question 2: What’s to keep PRISM from faking data and ret-conning someone’s Internet behavior? “We see here that Mr. X was downloading a lot of child porn six years ago. And before that, he was downloading an awful lot of material about making bombs.”
Bonus question number three, closely related to Alex’s bonus question number one: when you have a multibillion-dollar business employing tens of thousands of employees directly, and an unlimited budget unconstrained by any kind of congressional oversight whatsoever, why on earth would anyone ever declare that line of business to be finished? The national security agency will go on and on and on because it is a self-perpetuating line of work.
Spot on cartoon.
Holy Hell, Ted. You just solved the unemployment problem. Eventually, we’ll have zero percent unemployment. Everyone will be paid to spy on everyone else. It’s a win-win situation.
Not to worry, Ted – after all, as we all know, if the President (and the next one, and the one after that …) does it, it’s legal….
Henri
I posted this on the previous thread before realizing that the wrong cartoon had been posted:
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This ‘toon is completely in line with my thinking, Ted. In a Facebook discussion one of my “Friends” responded to one of my posts with something to the tune of “Snowden is not a hero to me. He is a traitor. What the government did was legal.” My comeback to that was: “Everything that Nazi Germany did, including the extermination of Jews and dissenters, was legal. Those who protested government actions were also eliminated. Others chose to flee to other nations, but that doesn’t make them cowards.” Good job, Ted!
As to “Bonus question one”: Reports are now available claiming that the NSA program(s) have been effective in thwarting terrorist attacks around the world. http://tinyurl.com/kfw4fse
IF it is true that the system can identify (potential) terrorists, I suspect it is less about disrupting terrorist cells than it is to finding and recruiting “rebel” ground forces for such Western military adventures as Libya and Syria and, later, Iran.
Indeed, the vast majority of so-called terrorist targets in, for example, the drone wars, are really not people who have any interest in attacking the United States at all, but rather political dissidents and insurgents determined to overthrow or reform regimes such as the dictatorship in Pakistan.
Falco,
When Dubya successfully cut his meat without making a screeching noise on the plate, the White House sent out press releases, and Fox News interrupted their broadcast. The current administration is no different. Obama is much more coordinated, but the stream of pure bullshit AND the secrecy AND the retaliation against anyone who dares step away from the party line is … Nixonian.
If all the window-peeping and eavesdropping did anything, we’d know because the details would be rammed down our throats. No politician has ever hidden successes, just like no politician broadcasts his mistakes. And if Gitmo was anything other than a colossal clusterfuck, a war crime tinged with farce, we’d be getting regular updates on all the important intel coming out of the prisoners, we’d be shown why it was important. Instead, we are shown nothing.
As for Ted’s original question. I think we’ve passed the point of ANYTHING stirring up anger or surprise any more. Maybe, just maybe, if the NSA started advertising in big full-page ads that they’d be sending people to murder grade-school children, just for the hell of it, that might just stir a couple people to coin a twitter hashtag of some sort.
Yep – most Americans gett’in by are deep into the “I’ve got mine, and I’m keep’in my head down” attitude – surfacing occassionally to jump on a bandwagon or 2 of a ‘current scandal’. The Internet is the new Tower of Babel.
Point of information for Jack Heart: “‘Steamer’ was a nickname which, for some reason, the proles applied to rocket bombs.” – 1984, chapter 8.