DHS Tracked Occupy Wall Street to ‘Control Protesters’

[JDPriestly]

71. Let's hope that is all they were doing.

I would not use the word "control" in conjunction with just watching a video on the internet unless someone starts trying to identify people in the video.

The problems begin when people start making lists of names which can easily become black-lists. Problems also arise when authorities try to identify "leaders," and then somehow mysteriously the "leaders" have accidents or are murdered.

And then you get the flood of conspiracy theories, most of which are false, but which ultimately undermine confidence in the government and in law enforcement.

It's a vicious circle of suspicion and assumptions. Homeland Security investigates people because it falsely assumes that people who join protest movements are dangerous almost by definition, and then when people discover that they have been investigated, they do not trust Homeland Security.

Vicious, vicious circle.

And I fear we are at that point.

In a democracy, we permit the free exchange of ideas, the free marketplace for ideas. That means you don't chill speech by trying to control people with unusual ideas or people who assemble to petition their government.

Our Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, was a well considered document based on vast knowledge of history including the history of Rome and European countries. The First Amendment has been compromised to what is to me a very dangerous extent. And it is not the first time we have gone too far in this respect.