When the Snowden leaks came out last year, I doubt
that many of us were really all that shocked that our government has been spying
on us. In the protracted, post-9/11 climate of fear, most of us understand and
grudgingly accept that intelligence gathering in the technological age brings
with it an unprecedented opportunity for surveillance and that there is
precious little we can do to prevent Big Brother from tapping into our private
lives. Snowden's revelations were not really earth shattering so much as they
were a confirmation of something we already strongly suspected.
With
that in mind, it is easy to become jaded or cynical with regard to our own
government's tactics. It's too big a problem, too pervasive to combat, we tell
ourselves, and go on with our day. Some even accept this loss of privacy as a
necessary sacrifice they are willing to make in order for our country to be
safe from terrorism. The usual thought process that allows apologists to
internalize and rationalize this
violation is that they have nothing to hide; If they aren't doing anything
wrong, they have nothing to worry about. This is precisely the thought process
that organizations like the NSA and the CIA are banking on.
It
never ceases to amaze me that the people who are OK with their 4th Amendment rights
being trampled are all too often the same people who will launch into a
spittle-fueled, fist-clenched, red-in-the-face tirade if any mention of
re-examining the 2nd Amendment is made. I guess it shouldn't surprise me,
though. Their fear of terrorists and their fear of being unarmed come from the
same place. It does strike me as odd, though that these same folks, who often
defend their gun-ownership as necessary to defend themselves against our
government, should that government turn tyrannical, are so willing to give that
same government such an unfair advantage when it comes to obtaining intelligence.
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