Manning and Snowden; Huxley and Orwell

The Bradley Manning decision got me thinking about the late Neil Postman's conclusion at the end of his introduction to the insightful "Amusing Ourselves to Death."

He argued that Aldous Huxley's entertainment-anesthetized "Brave New World" better describes our plight than does George Orwell's totalitarian "1984."

Until recently, I would have largely agreed. Through our addictions to television, Twitter, Facebook, on-line games, broadcast sports and the internet generally, we have been "amusing ourselves to death." We are willingly living in a fabricated media environment manipulated by corporate interests. We define ourselves through purchases.

We have turned our backs on a world we might otherwise be able to influence.

Its problems are infamously daunting: inequality, poverty, war, global warming, fanaticism, sexual slavery, overpopulation, starvation, ignorance etc.

Now, the revelations of Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and others prove that Orwell's Big Brother is tracking each and everyone of us as we play in our technological sandboxes.

Moreover, our ersatz democracy is performing crimes against humanity — all in the name of freedom and "The American Way."

Understandably Big Bro (collectively the Obama administration, the military and the "intelligence" community) desperately wants to keep secret both its atrocities and its surveillance.

So Manning and Snowden are vilified. They are tried both in the corporate press and in fact. Manning faces spending the rest of his life in prison; Snowden is being pursued like a traitor on the run.

So there's a meld of Orwell and Huxley in all of this. Informed of our government's Orwellian atrocities, will we simply behave as Huxley predicts — by flipping the channel or clicking to another web site?

Will we be too distracted to care?

Will the government be monitoring our complacency and apathy? If we alter our compliant behavior and become engaged, will Big Brother's computer detect it and take note? (Are the computers reading these words? Has your own readership been noted?)

Will we find ourselves on a "Watch List"? What next?

For a graphic, literally and figuratively, portrayal of the Postman comparisons go HERE. The cartoon strip is by Stuart McMillen. Two panels are shown above.

Merkley votes against Snowden aid

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was part of the committee's unanimous vote supporting a move to place sanctions on any country aiding NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

I have written Merkley to object to this bullying tactic, noting that the senator's vote is out of step with the opinion of the majority of the American public and his Oregon constituents.

I wrote him that Snowden should be seen as a hero, not an enemy, for his brave action in revealing the intrusion of the federal government into our privacy.

I urge you to write Merkley about his vote. Go here to do so: http://www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/

You can read more about the committee's vote HERE.

Traitors!

“U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) Monday called self-professed National Security Agency surveillance plans leaker Edward Snowden a traitor.” UPI

“House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) left little doubt Tuesday as to how he thinks NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be dealt with: as an enemy of the state.“He’s a traitor,” Boehner said on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’” Washington Post

In case you’ve just returned from Mars, Snowden, an employee of a private security contractor hired by your government, revealed that said government has established a vast cellphone and Internet surveillance program that indiscriminately gathers data about your communication and mine.

Note: both Feinstein and Boehner are sworn to uphold the Constitution, and both knew about and approved the surveillance program.

The Fourth Amendment of that very same Constitution reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Before moving on, you might want to reread that....

So here's the obvious question: Just who is betraying their oath of allegiance to the Constitution and the nation?

Edward Snowden?

Or the esteemed Speaker and the chairwoman the of the Senate Intelligence (sic) Committee.

The answer, fellow freedom-loving Americans, is as obvious as it is dangerous.