On 2/8/16, Sean Lynch <seanl@literati.org> wrote:
... During WWII it was not permissible to speak out against the war; you'd be considered to be aiding the enemy. I think it was worse in Europe than in the US, but still. There was a time when a majority of American men in a certain age range were veterans. Now they're a tiny minority. It allows a much greater diversity of thought.
true! last week i got back FOIA documents from DHS. it was the first page of every classification guide they authored within the department, guides which explain to those working with sensitive information (even TS/SA, TS/ECI :) how that sensitivity should be determined. the front page also contains a list of superseded classification guides and other deprecated materials - in turn useful for tracking the lineage of surveillance and military programs within the intelligence community. and, the courts slapped down the FBI's refusal to hand over processing notes for FOIA requests. this fabricated denial through a creative interpretation was soundly rejected by the judge as outside scope of FOIA statute itself. the Meta-FOIA lives on! funny that FOIA restores faith in humanity, if ever so briefly... (^_^;)
... revolutions seem to happen when they are closest to being unnecessary, otherwise they wouldn't be possible. So I think the answer is that for corruption to spread that far, it must be pervasive throughout society, not through some separate thing called "the State." Which means if the State is really that corrupt, revolution may well be impossible, and the only solution may be war by other states.
first to global netwar win retains ever-after dominance? perhaps an ever more empowered individual gives world time; need only wait for fight by the right watermeatbag to fill the role demanded...
... Instead, revolution will happen not because the State is extremely corrupt, since that would require a corrupt society, but because it is weak and the people perceive it as corrupt.
i get what you're laying down. i'm voting for Bernie too... *grin*
Hmm. I think the notion that the State and the public are not truly separate applies here as well. So it's not so much that it wouldn't be detected as that the corruption would encompass all of society.
there was a recent FOP leak, showing how union contract agreements with municipalities and states force destruction of records indicative of police misconduct. certainly undetected corruption in rampant - who watches the watchers conveniently empowered fully outside the legal constraints facing every other citizen?
This is kind of my worst nightmare; that my optimism has been misguided all this time. I wrote a post on liberty.me about how to deal with an invincible adversary that may be relevant here: https://undergroundeconomist.liberty.me/dealing-with-an-invincible-adversary...
"Fighting a far more powerful adversary requires a completely different way of thinking than dealing with one who has similar capabilities to yours. " ^- this is also true! however, you don't continue with a full explanation of how to resolve this complication... :)
In the forward of an obscure book I've started reading, The Omega Seed by Paolo Soleri, the forward author talks about how the Christians, instead of continually trying to fight ineffectual revolts against the Romans as their Jewish forebears had, instead focused on building communities. I think we need to focus not only on building communities where we're connected to one another, but where we're strongly connected to people around us who may not share our exact beliefs.
indeed. i've enjoyed great conversation with people across every corner of the political spectrum. there's more than enough common ground to go around, if we can get past the habit forming narcotic of outrage pr0n on media propaganda lambdas... one side effect of such ideological purity purges in intelligence community is the erosion of technical talent and capability. drunk twice over on offensive suites too sweet for non-discreet, now is reckoning with interest past due! best regards, [ maybe the forthcoming DoJ leak will shed more sunshine? ]