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el_bryanto

(11,804 posts)
Thu Jun 13, 2013, 08:51 AM Jun 2013

Acknowledging Complexity

The issues surrounding the PRISM program and Snowden's revelations are complex, and have provoked a number of different responses. You just have to look around DU to see that there are probably 10-14 distinct positions on what this all means. You can simplify (as I have) and say there are those who think the program is OK and those who think the program is bad, but that doesn't call into question the various actual objections people have to the program, or the various reasons that people might have for supporting the program (at least theoretically).

So the issue is complex; but people feel very passionate about it. And because they feel passionate about it, they tend to simplify it down to simple questions "Do you trust your Government?" or "Do you support President Obama?" This is a natural way to cut through the swamp of complexity and get to firm ground.

The benefit to those clear cut questions is that they let you opine with certainty, to focus your passion against those who do trust the Government or those who stand against President Obama. The downside is that they inevitably reduce all the people who disagree with you to caricatures. Once you have a firm and clear answer, anybody who disagrees with you is either misinformed (they don't have all the facts), stupid or crazy (they can't process the facts correctly), or corrupt (they choose to misinterpret the facts). I've seen plenty of posts imputing craziness or corruptness.

Acknowledging the complexity of this issue takes us back in the swamp; it forces us to acknowledge that other people might be moral intelligent people who simply see the issue different than we do. While it is less comfortable, it might be better for us.

Bryant

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Acknowledging Complexity (Original Post) el_bryanto Jun 2013 OP
Nice thoughtful post loyalsister Jun 2013 #1
Thanks for the kind words. nt el_bryanto Jun 2013 #2

loyalsister

(13,390 posts)
1. Nice thoughtful post
Thu Jun 13, 2013, 09:28 AM
Jun 2013

I don't feel threatened in the way some do, possibly because I don't extrapolate and analyze all possible scenarios. I do understand how that happens because I have priorities that have led me to imagine and fear the worst possible scenario.
I think we have inadvertently, opened ourselves up to this with our use of technology. I understand how jarring it is to realize how much information is out there and can be collected. But, I just don't find the worst possible scenario to be a convincing argument that counters the damage that Snowden has apparently done.

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