A bit of wisdom from Edward Snowden

I am consistently amazed by how brilliant this kid is.

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CB's picture

the current systems or they will eventually take complete control of our lives. But, he does not discuss how it can actually be done.

In looking at the newer generations I find that they do not care if they are being tracked nor do they care what information is being collected and stored about them. In fact, they welcome this intrusion quite willingly into their lives and will offer it up without question. They want to be in 24 hr contact and know where and what their family and friends are doing, reading, wearing, going, even thinking. And they know all this data is being stored, collated and analyzed.

The only solution is to disconnect your cell phone, not use a computer and hide in a cave. We are in a completely interconnected electronic world now, whether we like it or not. The moment you got your first credit card and bank card you joined the club. There's no going back. Get used to cameras on every street and place of business with face recognition because that day has already arrived. Welcome to the panopticon.

Both Korea and Israel both do cellphone tracking in an attempt to control the coronavirus. This is not new technology. It was Snowdon himself who showed it is ubiquitous within most technologically advanced nations.

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@CB
one more version of this song, this time a cover:
[video:https://youtu.be/icrM4_4T1qc]

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

snoopydawg's picture

@CB

it's never going to affect the current generation, but the ones coming after. This works with social security because I see lots of younger people saying that it won't be there for them. Kids that were born after 9/11 were born into a security state and they don't know there was a time when it broke the law. The biggest thing I've seen is in the gay community who didn't witness the massive amounts of deaths from AIDS. The either think everyone who's gay will get it or it's no big deal because there are medications to treat it. The infection rate today is still way too damn high.

You folks that protested during the 60's onward what were you protesting and if it didn't do anything do you remember what the next generation accepted?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Granma's picture

@snoopydawg and the use of Agent Orange and Napalm. We protested to make abortion legal. Those are the protests I was a part of.

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CB's picture

@Granma
This is what America left behind and still refuses to rectify in any significant manner:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3DcCtoUubo]

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I was annoyed by the "production" of this video. Snowden has interesting things to say, but there was the constant distraction of the creepy background music--a classic technique to try and manipulate the emotions of the viewer. Not a good fit with someone like Snowden, who actually has substantive things to say.

Snowden has always been careful to avoid prescribing exactly how society goes about correcting the problems he sees. I suspect he does not feel this is his area of expertise. His main point is that things are being done now that will make it possible to track and control people in a very undemocratic way, and that we have to be aware of this and be prepared to fight against the wide implementation of this threat. Others, like Caitlin Johnstone, have also been warning of this too. It is the mainstream media where you do not see this being discussed in any detail--the powers that be are not eager to talk about this, no doubt because some of them would like to implement a permanent digital lockdown on society. It is up to us to keep talking about this and get the hive mind working on how to avoid that kind of future.

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CB's picture

@out of left field
using Vice Media. Their reporting on Syria and Ukraine was atrocious. They also have a strong anti-China bias. Snowdon probably had to add the negative comments about China to get this interview.

VICE’s Fall From Counterculture Hipster Rag To Neoliberal Government Mouthpiece

Robbie Martin, director of the documentary series ‘A Very Heavy Agenda,’ joins Mnar Muhawesh on ‘Behind the Headline’ to discuss how VICE became a government lapdog pushing pro-interventionist messaging to a millennial audience wary of the government.

No, I’m not talking about porn, gambling or drugs.

I’m talking about the multimedia empire that’s leading the mainstream media machine in producing “edgy” reporting behind a hipster, cooler than thou facade.

As a brand, VICE is built around an anti-establishment vibe that’s always feeling the pulse of the fringe. So how did VICE go from producing a niche magazine in Canada focused on street style and sex, to being a bona fide multimedia empire that includes a popular website, growing digital footprint, and partnerships with major corporations?

The shift happened gradually. There was $200 million from Disney and another $70 million from 21st Century Fox that made Rupert Murdoch a major owner. One talk show sponsored by Bank of America, and another hosted by career Islamophobe Bill Maher. World-famous puppet master George Soros, who funds coups in favor of NATO, got his own segment. Throughout all of this, VICE Media expanded by quietly embracing the very corporate and government entities that hold the least credibility with its own, young audience.

While positioning itself as a ballsy, no-holds-barred alternative to the mainstream media, it’s actually become the mainstream media. VICE Media hasn’t just sold itself out to the neocon agenda, it’s also normalized that agenda among its audience through its growing digital platform.
...
VICE, it turns out, is an ideal vehicle for delivering Cold War, interventionist messages to a generation that knows better than to trust the mainstream media or the government. The problem is, that generation doesn’t seem to realize that VICE is the mainstream media and it’s pushing government narratives.

Robbie Martin is here to explain how VICE towing the line of the establishment and how it managed to sell mainstream narratives to its anti-mainstream audience, and why it’s so dangerous.

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@CB
but Snowden is so good that he can make even a Vice interview excellent.

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CB's picture

@gjohnsit
in defining the problem. But what will be the solution? We have a completely unresponsive government with an easily malleable population. It's a democracy in name only.

When it comes to foreign policy we also have zero control. The PTB can readily shape the views of a majority of the population to support any conflict they should want to engage the country in. The national security state has control of the majority of the MSM as well as an increasing number of the web based media - like VICE and The Intercept.

China is now the new enemy. Trump's attack on them and the WHO is the opening salvo. He needs a scapegoat to cover for his failures in dealing with the pandemic. We will be seeing an increasing escalation in the very near future.

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I just sent it off to my kids and some friends and asked them to make 22 minutes available to themselves to watch it.

When Snowden talks about how we give up our freedoms and rights in times like these, I was reminded of a book that had a great influence on me regarding this topic. I highly recommend it. It is Perilous Times by Geoffrey R. Stone. Stone is at the University of Chicago and was actually one of Obama's mentors when he taught Constitutional Law as an intern (too bad more of Stone didn't rub off on Barack!). The book traces all the the incidents that caused us in our history to give up our rights or allow the government to take them from us. It starts with the Alien and Sedition Act and goes all the way to the Patriot Act. In between we see people like Abe Lincoln jailing newspaper editors that questioned his war decisions to of course the internment of Japanese citizens under Roosevelt... McCarthyism etc. Really good book. I wonder if Professor Stone has seen this video. I might sent it to him.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin