General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe old "if you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" meme....
is astonishingly naive.
It's as if some have never heard of the slippery slope.
sibelian
(7,804 posts)AS for the slippery slope argument, it's one that some people just don't seem to understand.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)Why is this so damn hard for people to get?
sibelian
(7,804 posts)I think they see time as a kind of labyrinth in which choosing all the right turns gets them to the goal.
Of course, it isn't like that at all.
raccoon
(31,089 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,309 posts)We've already slid down the slippery slope.
Of course, the frightened authoritarian, "anything to be safe", TSA-NSA-CBP-DHS defenders will soon appear, shouting about how these things are done "out of an abundance of caution" and that we'll all be better off.
What egregious BULLSHIT!
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)innocent people gave been executed for crimes they didn't commit. That innocent people have served (and are serving) prison sentences for crimes they didn't commit. Perhaps they've never heard of racial profiling either.
It's worse than just being naive. It's delusional and destructive.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)This is a power grab. When someone knows more info, all about you, etc. THEY have the power and you don't. Sad that people don't get this and think they would somehow be 'safer'.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)no longer has any credibility to me.
Fix The Stupid
(947 posts)I just took "full ignore" out for a test drive...
I cannot understate how much better this makes the DU experience.
It's amazing - I urge all you peeps to try it.
I was dead set against 'ignore' in the past - I wanted to see what everyone had to say, but it gets a little tiring seeing the SAME posters take the SAME RIGHT WING stances on dam near every thread. I thought this was a left-leaning board - WRONG.
Use the 'ignore' and your experiences will be better.
I don't come here to see gov't sponsored propaganda.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)outside of the context of this issue, I've had people on DU inform me that vigorous support for the 1st amendment, as viewed by the EFF and the ACLU is the equivalent of support for the right of women to wear fuck me shoes.
then seen people from this same group try to label people like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and, most especially, people on DU who are strong supporters of 1st amendment rights as "1st Amendment Extremists."
Another such person accused me of enabling pedophiles when I refused to believe her claims, based upon the work of a nonprofessional and anonymous blogger, about someone rather than the opinion of Jennifer Granholm.
When you point out their specific asshole remarks and their perversion of ideas to some dumbed-down talking point, you are attacked because you don't support feminism...and I'm a female who has actively participated in feminist issues and causes for decades.
So, yes, there are some people here who are not worth bothering with. Every time I forget that, or comment because some claim is just so outrageously stupid, a few of this same group will gang up and, recently, one of them tried to have me booted off this site because the person twisted everything I said (which others pointed out to this person, repeatedly, and yet said person was still too stupid to see the reality that was before her.)
Some people here are simply toxic.
Ignore is a useful function.
randome
(34,845 posts)Not sure how much slippery-er it can get. And yet the promised plunge into fascism STILL has not occurred.
Collecting phone numbers and date/time stamps doesn't bother me at all.
Verizon already knows this data obviously so it's never been completely private.
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[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
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whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)but folks like you will wait for the announcement.
actslikeacarrot
(464 posts)...have the ability to arrest me and charge me with a "crime."
trumad
(41,692 posts)LondonReign2
(5,213 posts)"And yet the promised plunge into fascism STILL has not occurred."
What a relief. I guess we can all continue to cheerlead then until it does, because the current administration has D after its name.
Yay spying!
actslikeacarrot
(464 posts)...infuriates me.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)Info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
trumad
(41,692 posts)Fallacy... Wikipedia..the new Bible.---now that's a fallacy.
frylock
(34,825 posts)my party, blah blah blah.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)--so many people are naive about this.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/government-might-know-youre-reading
"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."
Many Americans have said this, or heard it, when discussing the expanded surveillance capabilities the government has claimed since 9/11. But it turns out you should be concerned. Just ask peace activists in Pittsburgh, anti-death penalty activists in Maryland, Ron Paul supporters in Missouri, an anarchist in Texas, groups on both sides of the abortion debate in Wisconsin, Muslim-Americans and many others who pose no threat to their communities. Some of them were labeled as terrorists in state and federal databases or placed on terror watch-lists, impeding their travel, misleading investigators and putting these innocent Americans at risk.
"When the government institutions that are responsible for providing those checks fail to do so, the result is a national surveillance society in which Americans right to privacy is under unprecedented siege."
The Fourth Amendment requirement that you must be suspected of wrongdoing before the government searches your private records risks becoming a quaint notion. Congress weakened the laws designed to protect our privacy, while the executive branch secretly re-interprets or simply ignores the law with no consequence. While your privacy is being sacrificed, there's little evidence the new spying programs are catching terrorists.
The question should be, "If you're not doing anything wrong, why is the government snooping on you?"
(more at link)
LaydeeBug
(10,291 posts)I have hated the Patriot Act from its inception. And I am sick of the people who say, "if you are not doing anything wrong, why would you care about having every moment of your life monitored?"
krispos42
(49,445 posts)Then it's saving lives, and only NRA shills could possibly against such things, and what about the children?
CokeMachine
(1,018 posts)I believe that's how I'm supposed to respond to all pro RKBA comments. Did I do it correctly?
Do I need the thingy?
krispos42
(49,445 posts)*shrug*
I'm suppose to mock the idea of a terrorist watchlist that has Senator Ted Kennedy and talk radio host Randi Rhodes on it, unless it's also being used to keep people from buying guns. Then it's hunky-dory to have one and HOW DARE somebody on the list (how it got there? Nobody knows!) buy a gun to add to his existing collection of guns!
I'm suppose to be leery of government abuse of data-mining my phone records; my emails that I've sent and received; every text that I've sent and received; the time, date, and cel tower those things were received on; deposits and withdrawals to my bank accounts; credit card usage; the dates and times and stores and amounts I patronize with my bank and credit cards; and my posts on a certain political discussion board.
But registering my guns, myself as a gun owner, and all of my ammunition? Yeah, no problem, because there's no way that's going to be abused. And it will capture thousands of murders a year, too, that otherwise would have gone unsolved. And of course the politicians will not make it as burdensome as possible.