I recently came upon an article that kind of struck a nerve. It’s not necessarily the article, but what it represents. I decided to put a response to the article here because it represents something that has been nagging me a lot lately and I am doubtful they would allow my full response to the article. Now, in the nature of full disclosure, I do use Apple computers and I do know people that work for Apple Inc. I also have a whole laundry list of complaints for Apple. I’m not a blind “Apple apologist.” In fact, none of this is really focused on Apple. I am also not trying to just attack this other site. I’m just using this entry as an example for effect.
To avoid sensationalism, dog whistling, and hyperbolic headlines in our content and not appeal to the lowest common denominator of political, social, and cultural discourse.
Google introduced a new privacy policy today. The internet is all a twitter with the news of Google’s new policy. There are complaints all over Western Civilisation. France announced a claim that Google’s new privacy policy is ’in breach of EU law.’ American legislators are trying to pass new laws. The world is in an uproar over this flagrant infringement on the privacy of people everywhere.
Google
Only, this is pure hyperbole. What Google is doing is what companies have been doing as long as they have figured out how to do it – target customers/users. Google provides a ton of free services. Gmail, Google+, Google Maps, Google Earth, YouTube… the tradeoff is that they want to advertise products to us to pay for these services.
First of all: Guess what. Nothing you do on your computer is “private.” I worked in the IT field for a while. The general rule is “Do not email something you wouldn’t want your mother to see.” Because, guess what else. Someone could probably be reading it. Unless you work for a top level government agency with extremely high levels of encryption, any number of people could have access to your information. Farther, the people that manage the service you are using still have access to your email. Even if you are an agent for the CIA’s Clandestine Operations, the IT people have access to your private email. How do you think the email gets from your computer to another one?
Second, why do you think anyone gives a shit about what you do? Are you really that interesting? Why does anyone care that you were doing cocaine with two transexual prostitutes in a Super 8 on Friday evening? Because you might get ads for an STD test or Super 8 coupons? Or because you are embarrassed that people know this about you even though they don’t give a shit about you?
Here’s a tip: If you don’t want people to know something about you, don’t tell anyone. It’s not like Google or Facebook or Apple goes into your home and gathers personal information about you when you don’t want them to do so. They aren’t talking to your former friends and relatives to uncover your past… they are using the information that you typed and put on the internet in the first place.
I also find it rather odd that so many Libertarians and Conservatives don’t see the predicament they are in. On one hand, they tend to be all involved in “personal freedom” and “individual liberty.” On the other hand, Google is not a government agency. It is a private company offering a service. If people don’t like their terms, they do not have to use the service. ”Free Market Principles.” Or only when it suits you?
Let’s be brutally honest. I really am tired of getting emails about replica rolex watches, Viagra from Canada, discounted lumber, and a plethora of things I will never consume. I would be delighted to get targeted ads on Karl Marx t-shirts or atheist Children’s books… much more than ads for celebrating the Tea Party Patriots and Rick Santorum.
We live in a society rife with hyperbole. This is not “big brother.” This is not an erosion of privacy. This is Google trying to remain competitive in a capitalist society.
First, I want to send my deepest apologies to anyone that frequents this site for my absence. I have been extremely busy and have not had a lot of time to update or write anything new. I started a few things but I never finished them. In the meantime, a lot has happened. The GOP debates aired… and we got to see real life imitating SNL. The United States executed more citizens. Most importantly, we have seen an explosion of a REAL grass roots movement. It was apparently true, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
#occupywallstreet is amazing. There is a media blackout, currently. Although some reports are making the mass media, for the most part, the occupy movement is spreading through word of mouth… through Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and other social media. I think a large part is that the media cannot even figure out why these people are protesting.
This is probably because there was no funding or organization from the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, or FreedomWorks. These are really people who are just mobilizing because they have had enough. It is completely organic in nature. The signs of the protesters range from “Unfuck the world” to “The poor have nothing to eat by the rich” to “This is my occupation” to the iconic “I am the 99%.“
I just learned, as I am writing this, that several Marine veterans are coming to join the #OccupyWallStreet.
I will definitely have more to say, but for now, some sage advice from an American Icon:
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
The other day I posted a transcript of Paul Ryan’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address. (I forgot to hit [publish] so it was not up that day.) There are key issues in this statement that are a bit “off.” Many of which were brought up by NPR and many other news makers. I want to look at a different part. Instead of looking at his complaints about the “failed stimulus” or claims at the “horrible health care bill,” I want to look at the following passage:
We believe government’s role is both vital and limited – to defend the nation from attack and provide for the common defense … to secure our borders… to protect innocent life… to uphold our laws and Constitutional rights … to ensure domestic tranquility and equal opportunity … and to help provide a safety net for those who cannot provide for themselves. We believe that the government has an important role to create the conditions that promote entrepreneurship, upward mobility, and individual responsibility. We believe, as our founders did, that “the pursuit of happiness” depends upon individual liberty; and individual liberty requires limited government.
Limited government also means effective government. When government takes on too many tasks, it usually doesn’t do any of them very well. It’s no coincidence that trust in government is at an all-time low now that the size of government is at an all-time high. The President and the Democratic Leadership have shown, by their actions, that they believe government needs to increase its size and its reach, its price tag and its power.
This is part of the Republican/Conservative agenda that I have taken issue with for a long time. Part of it is the rhetorical emptiness of it. But mostly, it is the implication, nuance and results of these comments that I find most concerning. I have been working on this for a long time and find the choice of verbal explanation to be challenging. (more…)
