Are you willing to give your life for privacy

[Clarakore]

Nothing disturbs me more than when a person says "Go ahead and listen in on my phone calls, i have nothing to hide"

That shows me right away i am dealing with a person who doesnt understand nor cares about the freedom this nation was founded upon.

And while i agree Obama is not Hitler i am left to ponder... Did Germans back then know they were following "Hitler'?

Did they feel something wasnt quite right when they were blindly giving up everything to the Government?

Its easy to see why people talk the way they do because some of the parallels are there.

Go ahead and listen in on my phone calls. I have nothing to hide.

Oh, it's a quote you should know, considering your username.

Because understanding and caring for freedom means quoting comic books and movies...?

[Frank Merton]

LOL, Vietnamese guy trolls hard.

Now how did what I say constitute trolling? I strongly disagree with you guys and I don't see where my nationality makes me unqualified to comment.

[Sweetpumper]

Because understanding and caring for freedom means quoting comic books and movies...?

Why does it matter where the quote comes from?

[Clarakore]

Your perspective of living in Indochina makes your opinion on this matter not so accurate or informed. You're an expat Frank, which is fine by me, but you are about as good a judge of life in the US today as I am a judge of life in Saigon. I'm not a good judge of life in Saigon.

It is a cognitive bias to believe everyone is in the same boat as they are.

Just because one person in America feels they do not have a firm grasp on life in Saigon does not mean the inverse is true.

It might be that overall people in America generally know less about Vietnam due to our press reporting and our own citizens less frequently searching out Vietnamese point of views.

It might be that overall people in Vietnam know generally more about us than we do about them for the same reasons except that their press talks more about us than ours about them and their citizens are more likely to run into American point of views as his.

It seems Mr. Merton who visits America and is frequently around American point of views does indeed know more about us and our country than we do about him and his country. That has been demonstrated many times. It is also easy to see some Americans do have very similar views.

Another cognitive bias is to believe that all Americans feel one certain way. Not all Americans feel our situation is akin to Nazi Germany. In fact very few do it seems. Never heard this being said outside of any mainstream media sources. That is a good indicator right there regarding American consensus.

Edited June 11, 2013 by The world needs you

[Frank Merton]

I dare say those who really do have nothing to hide aren't as worried about this sort of thing as others may be.

However, this is of course not the point. We are entitled to privacy if we want it, end of subject, except when the society has a prevailing pressing interest.

Take an off-the-wall example: I wager those involved in human trafficking and child abuse would seriously want to protect privacy rights. Does society have an interest in perhaps overriding them in this case? I see fighting international terrorism and international drug trafficking and money laundering as not being far afield.

What seems to be the paranoia are people who regularly and vigorously express treasonous or revolutionary sentiments, or who at least have the idea that what they say might be interpreted that way. Even freedom of speech has limits, and when it becomes conspiracy to overthrow the government illegally with force, one can conceive a situation where legal barriers that prevent authorities from learning about it might be helpful.

This scenario, at least with respect to the United States, is laughable. The FBI occasionally has to suppress such a group, but it doesn't need elaborate wiretaps to find out what is going on, and such groups never present a serious threat anyway (except to some local sheep).

[Frank Merton]

The typical educated Vietnamese, like educated people all over the world, knows far more about the United States and what is going on in it that hardly any American except the political elite know about what is going on in the rest of the world. This is not a criticism of Americans. What happens in the United States is far more relevant to Vietnamese and their future than what happens in Vietnam is to Americans and their future.

[Mantis914]

The typical educated Vietnamese, like educated people all over the world, knows far more about the United States and what is going on in it that hardly any American except the political elite know about what is going on in the rest of the world. This is not a criticism of Americans. What happens in the United States is far more relevant to Vietnamese and their future than what happens in Vietnam is to Americans and their future.

I beg to differ on that statement...

I've talked to college students that are friends of friends that go abroad here to the US to study and look to someone to get a grasp on American society. At the previous university that I worked at, there was a big Vietnamese community and I would often make friends and talk with students who were here and also their friends back home. One time, I talked to a couple of college students who asked me if I had voted for Obama both times to which I replied, "No" then they asked "Why not? I thought Americans love Obama?" After which, I explained all the recent scandals at that time that were present in the administration, then they just said, "We didn't know about all this!" I know it's not only foreign students but also American students which are not in tune with what is really going on and think that everything is peaches and cream with the way things are now...

[Sweetpumper]

I beg to differ on that statement...

I've talked to college students that are friends of friends that go abroad here to the US to study and look to someone to get a grasp on American society. At the previous university that I worked at, there was a big Vietnamese community and I would often make friends and talk with students who were here and also their friends back home. One time, I talked to a couple of college students who asked me if I had voted for Obama both times to which I replied, "No" then they asked "Why not? I thought Americans love Obama?" After which, I explained all the recent scandals at that time that were present in the administration, then they just said, "We didn't know about all this!" I know it's not only foreign students but also American students which are not in tune with what is really going on and think that everything is peaches and cream with the way things are now...

So, it appears that this means you know more about the Vietnamese than the Vietnamese do.

[aztek]

some americans do konw a lot about vietnam, some might still have the ears

[Mantis914]

So, it appears that this means you know more about the Vietnamese than the Vietnamese do.

The thing that made me shudder the most was hearing them say that "Americans love Obama". Is there a propaganda machine outside the US also??

[Kowalski]

Nothing disturbs me more than when a person says "Go ahead and listen in on my phone calls, i have nothing to hide"

That shows me right away i am dealing with a person who doesnt understand nor cares about the freedom this nation was founded upon.

And while i agree Obama is not Hitler i am left to ponder... Did Germans back then know they were following "Hitler'?

Did they feel something wasnt quite right when they were blindly giving up everything to the Government?

Its easy to see why people talk the way they do because some of the parallels are there.

In my sig.

I don't think Obama is Hitler or the Anti-Christ, but what scares me, is the apathy in some of the population. And the blind faith they have in the government. I mean, they would follow the government off the cliff, without even questioning it.

Some of you might want to check this video out below:

Former Hitler Youth Whistleblower Warns Of America's Nazi Future

[aztek]

. I mean, they would follow the government off the cliff, without even questioning it.

they already do, they just don't realise it. they would not belive anything until they are told to beleve or not, regardless of what goes on around them.\\

Edited June 11, 2013 by aztek

[Sweetpumper]

The thing that made me shudder the most was hearing them say that "Americans love Obama". Is there a propaganda machine outside the US also??

they already do, they just don't realise it. they would not belive anything until they are told to beleve or not, regardless of what goes on around them.\\

They were made to be ruled.

[Clarakore]

Some just believe the example of the suffragettes, Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists is the way to bring about change that is required and needed.

Electing officials who care about progress instead of obstruction is the way to go for some of us and we have faith in the process.

Today we face new problems. They won't be solved by wannabe revolutionaries who are all talk and no action.

Me-generation wanting instant solutions to problems they don't understand won't bring change.

The frustrated who turn to Alex Jones and Glenn Beck will do nothing but whine.

Progress is not about speed but direction.

Scandal-mongers not required.

Comic books???

Movies???

Right...

Edited June 11, 2013 by The world needs you

[Clarakore]

So is anyone proposing a solution beyond comic-book-and-conspiracy-theory-type fantasies of being "willing to give your life"?

Do some really believe they are going to be heroes? Just keep in mind that is a word others bestow on others and one that is not taken up on its own.

Edited June 11, 2013 by The world needs you

[Kowalski]

Some just believe the example of the suffragettes, Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists is the way to bring about change that is required and needed.

Electing officials who care about progress instead of obstruction is the way to go for some of us and we have faith in the process.

Today we face new problems. They won't be solved by wannabe revolutionaries who are all talk and no action.

Me-generation wanting instant solutions to problems they don't understand won't bring change.

The frustrated who turn to Alex Jones and Glenn Beck will do nothing but whine.

Progress is not about speed but direction.

Scandal-mongers not required.

Comic books???

Movies???

Right...

What you call "progress" I and, many others call the destruction of American liberty and values. I for one, do not want to live in a police state, ruled by fear of the government. That is not what America was founded on.

[Babe Ruth]

It is a cognitive bias to believe everyone is in the same boat as they are.

Just because one person in America feels they do not have a firm grasp on life in Saigon does not mean the inverse is true.

It might be that overall people in America generally know less about Vietnam due to our press reporting and our own citizens less frequently searching out Vietnamese point of views.

It might be that overall people in Vietnam know generally more about us than we do about them for the same reasons except that their press talks more about us than ours about them and their citizens are more likely to run into American point of views as his.

It seems Mr. Merton who visits America and is frequently around American point of views does indeed know more about us and our country than we do about him and his country. That has been demonstrated many times. It is also easy to see some Americans do have very similar views.

Another cognitive bias is to believe that all Americans feel one certain way. Not all Americans feel our situation is akin to Nazi Germany. In fact very few do it seems. Never heard this being said outside of any mainstream media sources. That is a good indicator right there regarding American consensus.

Many americans are not even aware of the similarities between the US today and Nazi Germany. Pardon the irony, but my guess is that many muslims in the US today are just as persecuted and prosecuted as jews were in Nazi Germany.

Most americans are too busy with their lives to really have the time to pay attention to politics. Most americans today are completely ignorant of what the US Constitution says and means.

Point is, ignorance of details is not really a valid perspective about "how this country is governed."

[aquatus1]

People in first-world countries who complain about how oppressive their leaders are have a tendency to see the world through rose-colored glasses.

[preacherman76]

Some just believe the example of the suffragettes, Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists is the way to bring about change that is required and needed.

Electing officials who care about progress instead of obstruction is the way to go for some of us and we have faith in the process.

Today we face new problems. They won't be solved by wannabe revolutionaries who are all talk and no action.

Me-generation wanting instant solutions to problems they don't understand won't bring change.

The frustrated who turn to Alex Jones and Glenn Beck will do nothing but whine.

Progress is not about speed but direction.

Scandal-mongers not required.

Comic books???

Movies???

Right...

I think you highly underestimate the power of talking. This is a war of information. The more people that stand unified in the way they think regarding at least how coruption and constitutional violations must end, the quicker that will become a reality.

[preacherman76]

People in first-world countries who complain about how oppressive their leaders are have a tendency to see the world through rose-colored glasses.

Thats how they stay first-world

[regeneratia]

I am on the front lines !!!

Come and get me, G-men. I have file after file on this coumputer and printed out about how the FBI and all intell have been struck down in the US courts time and time again.

And NO, big boys, meth labs cannot be considered WMDs, as horrible as they might be.

Edited June 12, 2013 by regeneratia

[Tata Rompe Pecho]

I already swore on my life to protect the constitution and citizens of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, when I joined the military.. The idea of engaging in violence to solve a political problem is retarded, this is politics.. The name of the game is protesting as a nation, and putting these elected officials in their places.. We the people are the boss, either do what we the people demand as a nation... Or find yourself removed from office.

This is my creed, this is my motivation to fight for everyone's rights. This is why I gave my life in Iraq, and was later revived. This is why I am not afraid, this is why we must react. These rights were not free, they came at the cost of thousands of brothers at arms... I will not let their deaths be in vain.

Edited June 12, 2013 by xFelix

[regeneratia]

where were you when the Patriot Act was being penned?

Where were you when the NDAA was up for a vote?

I already swore on my life to protect the constitution and citizens of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, when I joined the military.. The idea of engaging in violence to solve a political problem is retarded, this is politics.. The name of the game is protesting as a nation, and putting these elected officials in their places.. We the people are the boss, either do what we the people demand as a nation... Or find yourself removed from office.

This is my creed, this is my motivation to fight for everyone's rights. This is why I gave my life in Iraq, and was later revived. This is why I am not afraid, this is why we must react. These rights were not free, they came at the cost of thousands of brothers at arms... I will not let their deaths be in vain.

[Tata Rompe Pecho]

where were you when the Patriot Act was being penned?

Where were you when the NDAA was up for a vote?

I was busy fighting a war, how about you?

[Raptor Witness]

Again, thanks to all the poll participants.