Search Results: ben stiller

In light of the NSA scandal and the continuation of our privacy rights being violated (started with Bush in 2002 and continued with gusto/on steroids by Obama), I feel like these two things need be read/sceen. And I wonder, how many agree with Ben Franklin? How many agree with the second bit?

link

Also great:

The way things are supposed to work is that we’re supposed to know virtually everything about what they do: that’s why they’re called public servants. They’re supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that’s why we’re called private individuals.

This dynamic - the hallmark of a healthy and free society - has been radically reversed. Now, they know everything about what we do, and are constantly building systems to know more. Meanwhile, we know less and less about what they do, as they build walls of secrecy behind which they function. That’s the imbalance that needs to come to an end. No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power are completely unknown to those to whom they are supposed to be accountable.

I'd like to note something: For those who think this system is protecting us, why didn't it catch the Boston Bombers before they did it? Why did we need this system or the Patriot Act when before those were even in power we had the information about Al Qaeda's plan to attack the US using planes. So why did that happen? Leadership ineptitude. CIA files have been declassified already showing they were warning him for months. The entire month of August they tried, but he was on vacation for the ENTIRE month of his first year of his first term and when an agent came to where he was vacationing he said "you covered your ass, now go home." We don't need more violation of our privacies or rights to catch terrorists.

And before I get the logical fallacy of "well if you're doing nothing wrong you shouldn't be worried." It doesn't matter that I'm not doing anything wrong, it's still a violation of my rights and of our constitution. It is unethical and immoral and it is never right to blindly give our government more power over us especially in the false name of "security." If you think it's OK just cause you don't do anything wrong than you clearly don't agree with Ben Franklin's quote.

So I wonder, are you OK with this system? Are you outraged? And realize, this isn't a "democrat" or a "republican" thing. This is an American thing. It's wrong that Bush started it and did it, it's wrong that Obama continues it.