My political ideals happen to align closely with the Founding Fathers, and I've been vocal enough about that to assume that if the feds care, they already know. So I just don't really care what they know about me anymore. If it comes to the point that it looks like they might start rounding up people like me, I'll flee the country, like a German Jew ideally would have in 1930s Germany. If it doesn't come to that point, it doesn't really matter what they know about me.
If you ideals aligned closely with the Founding Fathers then the very fact your government is spying on the citizens would be something to care about, it would matter.
The 'it doesn't really matter what they know about me' attitude misses the whole point. The point is, it really matters that they are collecting data on citizens. The Founding Fathers would be disappointed to know that apathy was the downfall of their vision.
And where will you flee to? What kind of life do you think you'll have in a world where America sets the standard and all other governments follow suit? Citizens around the world shrugging and finding ways to tollerate the new paradigm whilst still living as comfortably as possible, because being monitored doesn't affect them.
My point wasn't that I don't care, my point was to give an alternative to self-censorship in terms of what you say and what websites you visit.
I've repeatedly asked for advice on HN in terms of what I can actually _do_ to improve the situation. I also recently posted a long rant asking for personal advice on leaving the country so as to not provide indirect support to what's going on [1]. If you have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.
I was really puzzled about what to do, because the Founding Fathers would NOT put up with this shit. Then I realized the key difference. The Founding Fathers started the American Revolution _because they could win_. They didn't worship freedom like some kind of religion. They were not self-sacrificial. They were trying to make their lives better. They were egoists.
What can I do, that has any remote chance of success? I can't think of anything. A revolution today would be a huge disaster, not that I'm even capable of starting one. All I can do is keep advocating a bit, and wait it out, and hope it gets better. To cease producing and go on strike at this point would not make any difference, except to be self-sacrificial.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. However, I don't think suggestions like "Call your Congressman" are viable, and that's what I often get.
If we could get all the productive people in the country to refuse to put up with this shit and go on strike, we could do something. If everyone in the NSA and the military had the scruples and moral principles of Snowden, we could end this shit overnight. But there is too little agreement. Such a strike will not happen, and if it did, whatever these people came up with next would probably be much worse than what we have now.
Comments
My political ideals happen to align closely with the Founding Fathers, and I've been vocal enough about that to assume that if the feds care, they already know. So I just don't really care what they know about me anymore. If it comes to the point that it looks like they might start rounding up people like me, I'll flee the country, like a German Jew ideally would have in 1930s Germany. If it doesn't come to that point, it doesn't really matter what they know about me.
If you ideals aligned closely with the Founding Fathers then the very fact your government is spying on the citizens would be something to care about, it would matter.
The 'it doesn't really matter what they know about me' attitude misses the whole point. The point is, it really matters that they are collecting data on citizens. The Founding Fathers would be disappointed to know that apathy was the downfall of their vision.
And where will you flee to? What kind of life do you think you'll have in a world where America sets the standard and all other governments follow suit? Citizens around the world shrugging and finding ways to tollerate the new paradigm whilst still living as comfortably as possible, because being monitored doesn't affect them.
My point wasn't that I don't care, my point was to give an alternative to self-censorship in terms of what you say and what websites you visit.
I've repeatedly asked for advice on HN in terms of what I can actually _do_ to improve the situation. I also recently posted a long rant asking for personal advice on leaving the country so as to not provide indirect support to what's going on [1]. If you have any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.
I was really puzzled about what to do, because the Founding Fathers would NOT put up with this shit. Then I realized the key difference. The Founding Fathers started the American Revolution _because they could win_. They didn't worship freedom like some kind of religion. They were not self-sacrificial. They were trying to make their lives better. They were egoists.
What can I do, that has any remote chance of success? I can't think of anything. A revolution today would be a huge disaster, not that I'm even capable of starting one. All I can do is keep advocating a bit, and wait it out, and hope it gets better. To cease producing and go on strike at this point would not make any difference, except to be self-sacrificial.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. However, I don't think suggestions like "Call your Congressman" are viable, and that's what I often get.
If we could get all the productive people in the country to refuse to put up with this shit and go on strike, we could do something. If everyone in the NSA and the military had the scruples and moral principles of Snowden, we could end this shit overnight. But there is too little agreement. Such a strike will not happen, and if it did, whatever these people came up with next would probably be much worse than what we have now.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/x?fnid=QFgl37XVMgSe59KGmzDlnj (though I don't recommend you waste your time reading it)