The big news lately is the terror alert the government has issued and the temporary closing of various embassies. Nothing has happened yet, which doesn't mean something won't. But if nothing does happen, the government will assure us that nothing happened because the government was doing its job of protecting us. That will then be used to justify the surveillance state the government seems to want to establish. But suppose – just suppose – the alert is a government ruse. This sort of thinking seems reasonable when one no longer trusts the government. Many Americans, I suspect, increasingly distrust ours.
Please note: I am not suggesting this is a government ruse. What I am suggesting is that recent revelations about government snooping are just the sort of thing that makes people suspicious of the government.
One problem with secrecy and deception is the fostering of fears like the one you describe: is this a ruse? Can we believe what we are told?
ReplyDeleteAuthority still doesn't understand that most of us approve intercept of communications when appropriate and when regulated lawfully. It's the collection of raw meta data and the excessive secrecy that concern most of us.