So. Here we have a local, small-stakes gambling case that involves just shy of two years of surveillance by multiple federal agencies profiling all kinds of people, including artists and journalists, for their social contacts—sometimes in ways that are sinister-sounding but in fact untrue, leading authorities to all kinds of dead ends about environmental activists, terrorists, and corrupt politicians.
I was aware the feds were investigating a lot of anti-war type groups, with "under cover" operations and so forth after 9/11. It harkens back to the transvestite, J. Edgar Hoover days... compiling files on people for "un-American" activities and such. I'm pretty floored that it's been going on to such extremes.
Thing is.. law enforcement in the US is completely fucked up, and if there isn't any crime, they'll spend the money and manpower regardless. Even if they're just going to bust some people for playing low stakes poker after spending hundreds of thousands (or more) dollars investigating it. At that point, somebody has to go to prison.
There is a reason I'm more or less anonymous on this blog. I'd rather not show up in some FBI file for criticizing our politicians or US policy.. not to mention the rather inept and corrupt behavior of the cops. Still, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out they've got files on thousands of bloggers.
I'm a software engineer, you know, and I do work for.. well.. you know. So.. ya.. shit's fucked up and I'm having an episode of paranoia.
Oh by the way.. does anybody hold the FBI accountable for anything? I'm pretty sure the answer is "no".
Rick is smoking a pipe. He sets it down on the deck table and stares out at Puget Sound. "I'd like to line up all the people involved in this investigation," he says, "line them up in front of parents of missing children—of people who actually need law enforcement—and explain to them why they wasted years of officers' time on this when their kids are still missing. I want them to look them in the eye and see how good they feel about their fucking lives. I'm not that important. I'm really not. Society is no safer with me in prison."
.....
And, of course, the comments are the best part;
TL;DR, not an interesting topic.
Posted by scary tyler moore on May 4, 2011 at 2:33 PM · Report
I want to write a book, or maybe a screenplay, about the type of people that I quote the comments of. There is something fundamentally broken about them, and there is a whole fucking lot of them around us. I don't know any of them personally, I don't think, because once I sniff that sort of thing on somebody, there's no way I'm going to be associated with them.
What is going on with a person who takes the time to register on a news publication's web site, then leave a "TL DR" (too long, didn't read) comment on an exceptionally well crafted piece of long form journalism? I'm really interested in where that comes from.
I think.. and it's sort of a guess.. that people who are unaccomplished in anything, and have a low self-esteem, somehow feel better when the make snarky criticism about some piece of work that somebody else put a lot of effort into, regardless of the quality of that work.
That make sense?
Imagine an artist spent months creating something of real importance.. to the artist. Someone else looks at it, knowing how invested the artist is in the work, and says "that's shit". It doesn't matter whether the work is fantastic, or really is shit, the response from the critic would be the same "it's shit".
Would a person that has actually invested their self in something deeply ever say that? I really think that's the determining factor. Maybe I'm wrong when I refer to them as "sociopaths". Some undoubtably are - but I think maybe, for many, it's simple envy?
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