A Nation of Snitches By Chris Hedges
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_nation_of_snitches_20150510A totalitarian state is only as strong as its informants. And the United States has a lot of them. They read our emails. They listen to, download and store our phone calls. They photograph us on street corners, on subway platforms, in stores, on highways and in public and private buildings. They track us through our electronic devices. They infiltrate our organizations. They entice and facilitate acts of terrorism by Muslims, radical environmentalists, activists and Black Bloc anarchists, framing these hapless dissidents and sending them off to prison for years. They have amassed detailed profiles of our habits, our tastes, our peculiar proclivities, our medical and financial records, our sexual orientations, our employment histories, our shopping habits and our criminal records. They store this information in government computers. It sits there, waiting like a time bomb, for the moment when the state decides to criminalize us.
Totalitarian states record even the most banal of our activities so that when it comes time to lock us up they can invest these activities with subversive or criminal intent. And citizens who know, because of the courage of Edward Snowden, that they are being watched but naively believe they have done nothing wrong do not grasp this dark and terrifying logic.
Tyranny is always welded together by subterranean networks of informants. These informants keep a populace in a state of fear. They perpetuate constant anxiety and enforce isolation through distrust. The state uses wholesale surveillance and spying to break down trust and deny us the privacy to think and speak freely.
A state security and surveillance apparatus, at the same time, conditions all citizens to become informants. In airports and train, subway and bus stations the recruitment campaign is relentless. We are fed lurid government videos and other messages warning us to be vigilant and report anything suspicious. The videos, on endless loops broadcast through mounted television screens, have the prerequisite ominous music, the shady-looking criminal types, the alert citizen calling the authorities and in some cases the apprehended evildoer being led away in handcuffs. The message to be hypervigilant and help the state ferret out dangerous internal enemies is at the same time disseminated throughout government agencies, the mass media, the press and the entertainment industry.
If you see something say something, goes the chorus...
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PuraVidaDreamin
(4,094 posts)Totalitarian states record even the most banal of our activities so that when it comes time to lock us up they can invest these activities with subversive or criminal intent. And citizens who know, because of the courage of Edward Snowden, that they are being watched but naively believe they have done nothing wrong do not grasp this dark and terrifying logic.
Is there a way to change this naive belief?
FlatBaroque
(3,160 posts)Have you tried to reason with the DU authoritarians? They could call themselves Democrats or Republicans; it doesn't matter because above all they are Statists. The power of the state is paramount in their minds. And you can bet your life that political discussion boards are a Tier 1 environment to tag and bag "subversives".
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11339407
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)We need to follow his lead.
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)mrdmk
(2,943 posts)In the 1960's we were told there are dirty hippies everywhere and we needed to be watched
In the 1970's we were told there are drug addicts everywhere and we needed to be watched
In the 1980's we were told the government was everywhere and we needed to be watched
In the 1990's we were told there are poor people everywhere and we needed to be watched
In the 2000's we were told there are terrorist everywhere and we needed to be watched
Now in 2010's we are being told all of the above are everywhere and we still need to be watched
When will we be officially told, "the people who watch us need to be watched!"
A cold day in hell is suspect...
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Let them watch themselves starve.