re: #186 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut

The problem is not just moonbats. My dad, being a conservative Catholic Democrat, is very far from a moonbat, but he fell for this story, too.

Part of the reason is that there is a large amount of government overreach— asset forfeiture, stop-and-frisk, and there’s a perception, real or not, of the militarization of the police. I think also a lot of the anger is displaced fear— people suddenly realizing how much of their lives exist as online data, how someone with access could know so many of their secrets so quickly, and that embarasses and enrages them.

This is one of the main reasons I think that we should roll back a lot of NSA powers and police powers. The trust between citizen and police is very, very useful in stopping crime, and it’s something that’s been depressed for a long time in the US. The trust in government is likewise harmed by a perception of huge government agencies sorting through your data.

I think this is an essential part of human nature, the desire for privacy and the fear of police powers. I don’t think it is purely American, and I think it will never go away and can only be partially suppressed. What’s really needed is trust.

However, we likewise need to stand up and take terrorist attacks bravely, like the British took the Blitz, not letting it compromise us. That is, I think, a winnable psychological fight, challenging people to be brave is more likely to succeed than challenging people to be unafraid.

I’m going to ask you to revise and extend on that last, frankly because the British didn’t take the Blitz lying down. They made great efforts to counter the German air raids, including the introduction of radar onto night fighters and major AA deployments. The Royal Air Force also bombed Germany repeatedly during that time, and the Royal Navy blockaded Germany. The British government did all it practically could to reduce the Blitz and its impact.