Security vs. privacy is always going to be an issue (Niven and Pournelle's "Oath of Fealty"). There are even some points where the choice is security vs. individual freedom. We all have philosophical positions on these things, and we can dramatically invoke Franklin and others, but when it comes down to a real threat, it isn't so simple any more. A lot of people right after 9/11 would have put up with much worse than the security arrangements we ended up with.
The topology is hard to explain, but slippery slopes don't always go in only one direction each.
All I'm looking for is some reason and consistency. Nothing ticks me off worse (and I see it out on the blogosphere much more than I see it here) than people who will position themselves anywhere, as long as its on the opposite side of their political enemies.
This creates some strange mental implosions. The most obvious cases I've seen recently involve Darfur, where for some people the slogan seems to be boiling down to the bizarre "U.S. Out Of Iraq and Into Africa."
Current Events » in reply to re: Balance, limits, and opportunity
Good post.
The whole thread (69 posts)
- The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans
- Here is something interesting - good or bad?
- re: The New York Times article from last December
- HIgh crimes and misdemeanors
- Brace for spin
- Tens of millions of Americans?