The NSA: No Fucks Given
The government is making a snuff film staring the American public, and your civil liberties are taking the money shot. If you haven’t been following the subterfuge, you should know that EVERYTHING YOU SAY ON YOUR PHONE AND ON THE INTERNET IS BEING RECORDED BY THE NSA.
This isn’t a big surprise for most people who know how to think critically. It’s naïve to trust an obscenely powerful shadow organization with little oversight. That’s like letting Lindsay Lohan complete community service in a pharmacy with a drive through liquor store attached to it. Some say it’s good for the community, others know it’s just stupid and dangerous.
The government has been spying on us for a long time, but now it’s getting pretty blatant. They’re collecting massive amounts of data from phone and Internet records to protect us from terrorists, hackers, radicals, communists, aliens, quality television, and whatever else Hollywood can dream up. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they needed a warrant to do it.
Unfortunately, in the latest whistle blowing incident involving Edward Snowden and the PRISM program, it’s pretty clear that the NSA does not give a single fuck about our privacy. They are building a giant spy net to keep track of everything we say and do.
I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a terrible idea for a secretive state agency to be in control of that kind of power. I’m not saying I’m trying to hide anything, but I can think of about ten thousand morally incriminating text messages and pictures that I’ve sent and received over the past few years.
So many whores…so much cocaine…
If the NSA has access to that, they can easily make the case that I’m not exactly a model citizen. I make those decisions freely because I’m not afraid to live my life how I choose to. My personal life decisions and communications are none of the goddamn government’s business.
Edward Snowden released the information because he concluded that what the NSA was doing posed “an existential threat to democracy.”
Call him a traitor if you want, but I respect the hell out of him for standing behind what he believes. He backed up his actions and didn’t hide behind anonymity. He has some very interesting things to say about the PRISM program, which tapped directly into the servers of nine Internet leviathans including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.
“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them,” he said. “I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom, and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”
“I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
Whether you think he’s a hero or a traitor, you’ve got to admire the size of his testicles for standing up to one of the scariest government agencies in existence. He willingly sacrificed a comfortable life in Hawaii with his wife and high paying job to become public enemy number one. He did it so that we can know what our sketchy government is doing behind the curtains.
“I don’t want public attention because I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.”
Snowden is a shining example of what it means to be a real American. His oath to defend and uphold the constitution is stronger than his oath to keep the public in the dark about “state secrets.” He made a judgment call, and decided that standing up for freedom and liberty was more important than respecting the law. Sometimes it’s necessary to pay a great price in order to expose great injustices.
He was careful not to release any compromising information about US personnel like many whistle blowers before him. Any sort of leak that jeopardizes assets or their families is unquestionably treasonous. His leak was not about identities or missions, but about a massive surveillance system that is being built with the sole purpose of monitoring every single communication within the United States and abroad.
This should piss you off. You shouldn’t even care about the guy, you should care about the story he’s telling. It’s not about him, it’s about the NSA assuming massively unwarranted powers of surveillance.
It’s almost too late to stop. If we have any hope for a future free from indiscriminate government surveillance, we need to act now. If we’re lazy and we trade our privacy for perceived security, then we have already failed. It is our duty as Americans to defend the freedom that so many before us have fought and died for. If we can’t force our puppet politicians to take a stand against this sacrilegious attack on privacy, we will probably have to Tyler Durden the shit out of everything within 10 years.
The worst thing you can do is nothing. The NSA is hoping that no one will care and nothing will change. They want you to forget all about this and get on with your trivial lives. Don’t talk about an insidious tyranny that is secretly subverting the very foundations of democracy. Talk about Tebow.
Did you hear he signed with the Patriots?
While I agree with the column, I also support our government doing anything it can to stop Americans from getting hurt or killed by terrorism. If it’s either the government looking at my emails and phone calls, with no consequence to me, or another 9/11, I think you’ll know what I’ll take every day of the week.
12 years ago at 5:42 pmObviously you don’t know much about terrorism.
12 years ago at 7:47 pmTo put it in perspective, of the 3240 terrorist incidents in the world in 2007, 19 were in North America. Of these, almost none included fatalities (other than the terrorist in some cases).
“But, SmugPeddler!”, you say to yourself, “This data may be from a time when PRISM was running, thus driving down the number of terrorist incidents!”
Very astute of you. How about 1990? Good, round year. Definitely before PRISM was introduced. And… 3888 worldwide incidents, 31 of which were in North America.
So, I suppose my point is that the government is hiding this monolith of intrusion under the guise of protection, but this is protection we don’t really need.
It takes 2000 9/11s to equal one holocaust………..
12 years ago at 8:45 pm^^ exactly. I’d actually be willing to let the government listen to my phone calls if it meant preventing another 9/11 (even though it would be a waste of time and resources), but there’s no reason to believe this is actually keeping us any safer.
12 years ago at 8:31 amI hope they send my snapchat records straight to the oval office.
12 years ago at 5:48 pmSigning emails with “Obama sucks” and hoping it goes to the oval office.
12 years ago at 5:05 pmThis is the first column in a long time that I’ve actually enjoyed on this site, and is inspiring me to take more dick pics for the NSA.
12 years ago at 5:49 pmDon’t forget to mention the hypocrisy of the Left. That’s one of the things that piss me off the most; not only where they spying on us, but they were vocally against us. What a bunch of dicks.
12 years ago at 6:01 pmIt’s not about the left or the right. Bush started this and Obama continued it.
12 years ago at 10:38 pm^guy’s got a point. This intrusion is supported by both sides of the spectrum. Probably time to throw these petty political differences aside and realize it’s citizens vs government. I support Snowden. It takes brass balls to do what’s right.
12 years ago at 10:47 pm^amen
12 years ago at 10:58 pmSorry for the double post, but seriously. The guy knows full well he’s being hunted now under the espionage act. His paycheck was funded entirely by us and he’s the only one to blow the whistle on this operation. It’s terrible that a true American has to seek asylum in fucking China for upholding the Constitution.
12 years ago at 11:03 pm“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning, but without understanding.” -Justice Louis Brandeis-
“Be not intimidated, nor suffer yourself to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice.” -John Adams-
FUCK. TYRANY.
12 years ago at 6:10 pmGood column. However, the first sentence should say starring, not staring. You’re lucky I’m interested in this topic or I would have moved on to rush boobs like I usually do.
12 years ago at 6:10 pm“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”-Benjamin Franklin
12 years ago at 6:41 pmDoes that mean that some NSA asshole gets to see the girls tits I’ve been asking for for months without even trying. That bastard.
12 years ago at 6:54 pmWhat the fuck is Bill Belichick going to do with Tim Tebow? Terrible move, Patriots, terrible move.
12 years ago at 7:33 pmI believe Benjamin Franklin summed up the crossroads we as a country are at best with this, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
12 years ago at 8:13 pm