The Top 5 Claims That Defenders Of The NSA Have To Stop Making To Remain Credible - EFF

[Savannahmann]

30. Not at all

One can hate the messenger, but one must be willing to discuss the message. Notice the trend my friend. Whenever the NSA's unconstitutional spying comes up in discussion, the anti/Greenwald/Snowden people pounce. They are attempting to deflect the discussion, to put the entire topic off limits by categorizing it as propaganda from unreliable sources.

I think Snowden is a whistleblower, and I respect what he did. I don't love him, nor Greenwald. My objections come up based not upon the political affiliation (purported) of those giving us the information, but about the violations of the Constitution.

The PATRIOT ACT clearly violates the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments. These are not subject to the ticking time bomb exclusions favored by the Neo-Cons of the Bush era. They are not subject to any bureaucratic decision that they don't apply. The notional war on terror will end one day. We have to ask ourselves what kind of a country will we have left when it ends? Is it one our ancestors would be proud of?

I wasn't very clear, and for that I apologize. I should have said that the people who used and occasionally will still use the aforementioned talking points now recognize belatedly that they are essentially discredited. But now, they attempt to divert the discussion by claiming anyone who does support those pesky constitutional amendments are doing so because they are dupes of the Snowden/Greenwald libertarian plot to overthrow Obama or whatever. The topics are intertwined now to the point that it is impossible to discuss the NSA/FBI/CIA/DHS/GCHQ spying without being prepared to defend against the claim that you are supporting the Libertarians against the Democratic party and falling for some sort of secret plan to make President Obama look bad. But you see, if you reject the messenger, you must discount the message. It would be as if you quoted Glenn Beck on this site. Even if he said that Global Warming was happening, no one here would want to hear it because Beck is a lunatic RW tool. What they are doing is trying to discredit the message, by smearing the messenger.

To some extent they have been successful. Because as I mentioned above, they have managed to intertwine the two in such a way that the issues are linked probably forever. The problem is that the public did not reject the message when the messengers were tied to it successfully. I respect Snowden, Manning, Ellsworth, Felt, and so many others who have brought information out of the secret halls of Government and in the process made the nation better and stronger. I respect the Reporters, all of them, who have brought these stories to our attention. From Watergate, through Project Azorian, well into the Pentagon Papers. When a Government lies, the people have a right to know, and the people have a right to demand action. We have those rights so long as we are willing to stand up and demand them. Not one minute longer. Those who bring that information out, and tell us about the Unconstitutional actions should all be commended, because that inspires the next group who looks at the work they are doing with disgust.

Frank Serpico showed us the NYPD was rife with corruption. Should I love him because he is generally speaking pretty Liberal? Or should I hate him because he exposed it to the world instead of working within the system. Mark Felt exposed the Watergate scandal. Many people leaked information about Project Azorian. When the Government is doing something wrong, we have a right to know.

I hope I was able to explain it a little better this time. I thank you, by giving me the challenge to do so you have forced me to attempt to put observations into words that I have not done so previously, and I am grateful.