Here’s a random collection of conservative pieces (and pieces about conservatives) on the massive PRISM data-mining program:
The Atlantic’s Elspeth Reeve explains that a big part of the problem is tech-illiteracy — they don’t know what “metadata” means, so it can’t possibly be very important.
But the bigger part is cowardice. Conservatives are not brave. Brave people don’t support torture, hide behind assault weapons, blindly throw money at the military in the name of “defense,” or embrace a “security at any cost” mentality. As Ben Franklin said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” This is why the right is always first to suggest war and the first to demand we throw away rights in the name of being “tough on crime.” They have no backbone and insist that government do everything in its power to guarantee them a risk-free life. They support the data-mining operation only because they’re terrified of giving up a sliver of possible safety in the name of greater freedom.
The next time one of these people tells you how they love America and liberty, feel free to laugh in their face. They do not.
[photo by Shayan (USA)]
Wall Street Journal: “Thank You for Data-Mining”The rightwing blogosphere is mostly up in arms over the program, but they’re up in arms if Obama has pancakes for breakfast. They haven’t really noticed that no one pays attention to them anymore. Their audience is the choir. The growing consensus on the right is that this most definitely is not a scandal, but Barack Obama finally seeing the wisdom of embracing his inner neocon.
National Review: “A Small Price to Pay”
Jennifer Rubin: “Unwarranted hysteria over Verizon data collection”
Forbes: “NSA’s PRISM Sounds Like A Darn Good Idea To Me: This Is What Governments Are For”
Mediaite: “Kirsten Powers Defends NSA Data Grab: ‘Didn’t Have A Problem With It Under Bush, Don’t Have A Problem With It Now’”
Washington Post: “Congress all but silent on surveillance of Internet records”
The Atlantic’s Elspeth Reeve explains that a big part of the problem is tech-illiteracy — they don’t know what “metadata” means, so it can’t possibly be very important.
But the bigger part is cowardice. Conservatives are not brave. Brave people don’t support torture, hide behind assault weapons, blindly throw money at the military in the name of “defense,” or embrace a “security at any cost” mentality. As Ben Franklin said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” This is why the right is always first to suggest war and the first to demand we throw away rights in the name of being “tough on crime.” They have no backbone and insist that government do everything in its power to guarantee them a risk-free life. They support the data-mining operation only because they’re terrified of giving up a sliver of possible safety in the name of greater freedom.
The next time one of these people tells you how they love America and liberty, feel free to laugh in their face. They do not.
[photo by Shayan (USA)]
