Watching "Casablanca" last night, I was again reminded it used to be the bad guys keeping "dossiers"

[villager]

Boy, how things have changed since that particular World War.

In re-watching "Casablanca" last night, for the ?th time, I was struck by the scene where Rick, Bogart's character, has to briefly share a table with visiting Nazi Major Strasser.

Strasser starts talking about what they know about Rick's past -- on the side of the Republicans (the good ones ) in the Spanish Civil War, etc. "Oh don't vorry, ve're not goink to broadcast it," Strasser says.

But the point was made that the bad guys were good at collecting information about you, whether you wanted it known or not. That was something bad guys did -- invaded your privacy. Found out about you. Used that information to harass you, get something "over" on you, etc.

Looking at the paper booklet, Rick famously asks, "Are my eyes really brown?"

I've watched that scene dozens of time, but it was this time where it hit me: Now our country, our "side" -- the one that Paul Henreid's Victor Laszlo seemed to be fighting for -- is the one collecting "dossiers," with the implied threat about whether to "broadcast" the information, or not -- to an employer, another government minder, the IRS, etc.

I guess that's what happens when you invite Nazis in after the war to help set up your intelligence gathering agencies.

Rick got away from that table as fast as he could. But the U.S., as a whole, did not.

We became smitten by the "dossier" gathering.

Major Strasser would be proud.

[NOLALady]

1. The bad guys

are still keeping dossiers.

[villager]

2. You're right. *That* part hasn't changed, after all.

All those Letters of Transit -- for naught.

[kwassa]

3. Round up the usual suspects!

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!”

“What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?” “…My health, I came to Casablanca for the waters.” “The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.” “...I was misinformed.”


Ugarte: Well, Rick, after tonight, I'll be through with the whole business and I am leaving finally this Casablanca.

Rick: Who did you bribe for your visa? Renault or yourself?

Ugarte: Myself. I found myself much more reasonable.



Ugarte: Rick, think of all the poor devils who can't meet Renault's price. I get it for them for half. Is that so... parasitic?

Rick: I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.

[villager]

4. An entire script comprised of classic lines!

Including the latest mantra for U.S. Citizens:

"What right do I have to think, eh?"

[mythology]

5. As much as I love Casablanca, it's not a documentary

The idea that countries haven't kept dossiers, or the equivalent before that word came into existence, is just silly. Sun Tzu was talking about the importance of intelligence on the other side in war more than 2,000 years ago.

[stevenleser]

6. And there you go interrupting a rant based on fantasy with facts. How dare you!!!

Lol.

[villager]

7. Dismiss intelligence gathering overreach all you want. Yes, Hoover *was* already doing it here,

of course.

Which makes it sadder that an administration touting "hope and change" would follow in his footsteps.

But the point of the scene -- and you dismiss popular culture of being reflective of a society's sentiment, at your peril -- wasn't that Strasser was gathering military intelligence on the movement of troops.

It was to show that one of the hallmarks of the totalitarians we were fighting was that they believed in a pervasive "snooping" state, with no privacy, no way to shield yourself from authority's prying eyes.

Which is how the authorities -- and evidently, even their snark-loving apologists posting here just overhead -- seem to like it.

[Javaman]

8. +1000 nt

[villager]

9. thanks, Javaman!

[treestar]

11. Hope and Change did not mean destruction of the Republic

Whoever got that message?

[treestar]

10. +1

and that good guys should not?

We should never get to spy on bad guys. We are too good for that.

A recipe for bad guys winning.

[villager]

12. You *do* realize that *you're* a "bad guy" for posting here, right? According to those currently

...hoovering up the information on a vast database of citizens.

Like you.

And that, I think, was the point of the scene in "Casablanca."