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I don't demand that you agree with me, or even remotely expect it. How could I? You know hardly anything about what I believe. I fully respect people who have militantly anti-government perspectives on NSA surveillance; those perspectives make sense to me, even if I share them only partially.

What I don't respect are people who have no earthly clue what they're talking about telling me how repellent my views are.



> militantly anti-government perspectives on NSA surveillance

This points to a flaw in the logic of governance that results in accumulated errors when it's used as a precept. The NSA is the interloper in American society and a latecomer to government. The existence of the NSA has no foundation in the so-called social contract that we all share. It's essentially a lawless institution at this point.

The NSA and those that support it that are militantly anti-social. Citizens insisting on their rights aren't the problem. Those that demand or facilitate the infringement of our rights are the actual problem.


By "militant" I don't simply mean strong-held beliefs, but also unquestioning acceptance of stories that reaffirm those beliefs. I don't think strong opposition to NSA surveillance automatically makes one "militant".


Apply the concept of "unquestioning acceptance of stories that reaffirm beliefs" to those people that rationalize receiving a salary from some aspect of the Surveillance State.


I have no trouble doing that, either.


Then I don't understand your ambivalence.


In practical terms, the problem with asserting ambivalent, balanced, middle ground positions is that white sees grey as black, and black sees grey as white.




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