tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post5445654639413104446..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: If Biogenesis Had a Contract With NSA - Headlines Would Be About Stolen Data, Not Baseball Players' Drug Use - Obama RespondsStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-3427234463555919432013-08-10T17:04:11.329-08:002013-08-10T17:04:11.329-08:00Phil, I am meandering here, as I am wont to do. I...Phil, I am meandering here, as I am wont to do. It's a huge topic that has lots of parts. Much of the discussion I've seen has been either focused on the need for secrecy/national security/patriotism or on Constitutional rights of free speech and privacy/whistleblowing/government misdeeds. <br /><br />I think it's much bigger than that. At its core it's about the gathering up of power by corporations and very rich individuals, their belief in their right to that power and their own rightness about how the world works (if we weren't so smart, how come we're so rich and powerful?). It's about transferring that sense of superiority to their right to do whatever they want to anyone anywhere in the world and using the federal government as one of their tools to do it. <br /><br />But I'm only just trying to think all this through. My focus was on how in the Biogenesis situation one guy walked off with boxes of company data and used it to blow the expose more baseball drug abuse. And the media focused on the baseball drug abuse. But in the Snowden, Manning, and other Espionage Act cases, the focus was on the whistleblowers and every attempt was made to shut them up, hide the information that was released and the problems it raised, and send a warning to others who might think about following in their footsteps. Starting with that limited scope was something I thought I might be able to handle, while bringing in some related context. Obviously, I didn't do that good a job. But meandering has been my style all along - trying to synthesize disparate points rather than echo the simplistic good v bad dichotomy a lot of the media push. <br /><br />I'm not sure what you meant with the word 'blasé.' I rarely take a strong stance one way or the other. I try to let the facts I lay out do that for me. And at this point there is still so much I don't know, it would seem presumptuous.<br /><br />I do appreciate the feedback, it made me think about this further. Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-40845269302158833932013-08-09T23:35:53.204-08:002013-08-09T23:35:53.204-08:00Strangely unfocused and blasé post by someone whos...Strangely unfocused and blasé post by someone whose views on and attainments surrounding public policy are usually direct and to the point.<br />Hopefully, you are just gathering your thoughts on this incredibly important set of subjects.Philip Mungerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com