a thought on surveillance state & mind of financial elites
Whites in the South in the Jim Crow era feared black men raping white women because they had raped black women with impunity for centuries and expected retribution.
Likewise, as Wall Street tries to take over public education, they think they can win over teachers with competition and "merit pay." A variation of this was just proposed in California, with tax relief for teachers to prevent them from taking jobs in other states.
In both instances, the very wealthy imagine the rest of us think and act exactly as they do.
So it is with the surveillance state that we find out more and more about with each new leak.
The intent of the mass surveillance is likely as much to catch us plebes plotting to storm the castle and take over through elaborate secret machinations because that is exactly what they would do.
However, the vast majority of us, even those who want change, don't want to take the place of the wealthiest individuals in the country and have no secret plans.
We would like to have a decent standard of living, a safe place to live, education and health care for ourselves and our kids, and a reasonable chance of decent world for our descendants to live in.
That aint no secret, and most of us don't have the time or means to plot to disrupt the Bilderburgers or whatever.
What will happen is what is already happening. People are refusing to cooperate here and there in increasing numbers, including the middle managers for the financial elite, both in and out of government. And those middle managers are the ones leaking the stuff that is ruining things for the ruling class.
What those at the top should really be worried about is all that surveillance infrastructure being turned on them.
If they cannot plot, and threaten, and buy politicians out of public view, much of their power is gone--especially if they depend on the rest of us buying stuff their company makes or borrowing money from them.
And I say, the sooner we turn the cameras and bugs the other way, the better.