Edward Snowden and Our Friendly NSA Monitors

Edward Snowden is known around the world for leaking details of the United States surveillance programs designed to monitor its citizens.  He was able to do this because he had a really cool job at the United States National Security Agency (NSA).  He said he was able to listen to phone calls or see the internet activity from anybody around the world.  What a great job!

I guess the problem came when Snowden began to feel a little guilty about everything he knew about people.  After hearing a person’s phone calls, knowing their internet searches and Facebook entries, you get a pretty good idea about what they’re doing.

“Why did you do an internet search on sex crazed perverts of the circus?”

“How did you know?

“Never mind.”

I’m sure Edward Snowden was conflicted.  On the one hand he could listen to the phone conversations between anybody he desired.  He could listen in on the talks between Bill Clinton and Hillary, which would be enormously entertaining. Snowden could also listen to Anthony Weiner talk to his wife, which would be disturbing. 

After a period of time he probably knew more about people than made him comfortable.  Snowden might have started to think “Would I want the government to know this much stuff about me or my family or even my family pet?”

I suspect that he knew during the history of the world many governments have done everything possible to gather information about their populations.  This information enabled them to determine who was and was not following the government rules, who would believe their propaganda and who had an attitude that needed to be adjusted.  This was done by governments brought to you by such stellar leaders as Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong of China and that fun loving Italian dictator known as Mussolini.

Now these government guys used all the information they gathered on their citizens to be really mean to those who opposed them.  They actually went as far as to kill them.  Yes, millions and millions of people who opposed these information gathering government types ended up dead.  They were killed; their relatives were killed as well as their family pets.  This left their countries with only populations of people who supported them, were afraid to oppose them and individuals who had no family pets.

Each one of these historic leaders had a rationale for their information gathering activities.  They wanted to catch spies, subversives and anyone who would bring harm to their country.  Sound familiar?

So, history shows us there are governments who will actively gather information on their populations.  Governments who have a track record of using this information to control their populations and crush opposition.  They will justify their actions by telling their populations it’s being done as a way to protect them.  Does any of this sound familiar at all?

Edward Snowden was in Hong Kong and contacted the United Kingdom’s publication “The Guardian” and provided proof and details about the information gathering on US citizens from their government.  He also provided information about the information gathering activities of the British government.  The Guardian published this and things got interesting.

American politicians reacted as predicted.  They justified the NSA information gathering programs.

President Barack Obama said the information gathering is okay.  It’s no big deal.  It’s monitored by the courts and congress.  He said “You can't have 100% security, and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience.”

I think there’s a version of that quote that can be found throughout history in Russian, German, Italian and Chinese.

So the United States government is very upset with Edward Snowden.  They want him badly.  They say he is a traitor.  Many other American citizens are thankful he brought this to the public’s attention.  They view him as a patriot.  These people will never get media coverage.

It appears that Edward Snowden will be developing a taste for borscht, the Bolshoi Ballet and vodka as he has been granted refugee status by the Russian Government.  This is Russia saying “pbbbbbbyth” to the American government.  Upon hearing the news I understand Edward Snowden said “Phew, I want to go to a bar and drink a white Russian.  Hey, now I actually am a white Russian." 

American politicians from every walk of life are just fine with the NSA programs that gathers so much information on each of us.  They tell us about terrorist plans that have been stopped; great vacation deals have been created and even better coupons that have resulted from it.  Many of us aren’t buying into what they say about it.  We sit back and wonder what information the government has obtained about these politicians.

I’m sure during the course of history there were many people who simply accepted what their governments told them about information gathering activities.  They felt if they did nothing wrong they had nothing to worry about.  I wonder what the millions of people who have been murdered by their governments throughout history would tell us about our current situation.  I’m certain they would provide us with some very valuable insights.

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