As I was reading throgh this article about the surveillance drama in the USA these thoughts flowed through me:
There is really very little quality information available (see the PRISM details matter).
The huge data-storage facility being built by the NSA or CIA or what not … casts a dark shadow over all possible doubts … if they are preparing to store so much information then they are going to collect (and are probably already in the process of collecting) so much information.
Speaking of “they” … I believe that at some level “they” are right to want this information … it probably does help them play their part in the failing security story we are living in.
Speaking of security … if “they” were to surrender their ambitions and scale back “their” surveillance” how understanding and forgiving would “we” towards “them” when the next “shocking” terrorist attacks take place?
There seems to be a fashion of “we” complaining about “them” … but very little that “we” are willing to do/change/give-up so that we need less of “them” and what “they” do.
It is up to “we” to change our world views, to create a better story of security (or maybe even a story that goes way beyond security?) … until “we” do “they” will continue to service “we” and “we” will continue to complain about “them” doing the job “we” ask “them” to do …
Maybe this self-inflicted drama is a (granted twisted) door to an opportunity for change … maybe the enemy from “within” a society is more negotiable then an enemey from “outside” a society. Maybe if “we and them” can be transformed into an “us” within the USA and its western allied countries … then maybe we’ll be able to export that capability to transform to other, more remote cultures and countries?
Sounds like “we” have stumbled onto a precious enemy … ourselves.