Paradise Lost: Paranoia Has Undermined US Democracy

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/paranoia-has-undermined-united-states-claim-to-liberal-democracy-a-932326.html

by slashdotaccount • 13 years ago

60 35 13 years ago

spiegel.de

LekkoscPiwa• 13 years ago

This article presents typical left-wing German point of view to the point of predictability. As a dual Polish/US citizen I understand and can relate to a lot of this what the article author says, but on the other hand what is striking in German liberal left is this: world is nice, safe place and any indications of terrors done by communists, or terrorists, etc. are widely exaggareted. I remember how I lived in Communistic Poland and during the Martial Law imposed by Communist Generals in 1980s Reagan not only called them Evil, he also started helping Polish resistance including food donations. I was one of these little kids really grateful for American food I got through a local church courtesy of the Paranoid US Tax Payers. Thank you for that guys. I still remember this tasty yellow cheese. Will never forget it. At the same time the West German political class was downplaying the Martial Law in Poland and refuse to criticize Polish GOvernment trying to "understand". And I see they continue doing this stupid thing. On the other hand after WW2 there were some extreme changes in German society. Pacifism uber alles instead of Deutschland uber Alles. And this is stereotypical article in that sense. In the sense of "All Germans and pacifist to the point of imposing danger on themselves and others".

On the other hand I sincerely believe that the US is way over the top with the reaction to 9/11. The terrorists wanted to destroy our fundamental liberal freedoms. By taking away those freedoms the uS Government seems to be confused on which side it is really fighting for.

ilaksh• 13 years ago

9/11 was our Reichstag fire. The government created the domestic threats in order to have leverage over its domestic enemies (dissidents). This is a common tactic.

jivatmanx3• 13 years ago

The USSR had dozens of nuclear ICBM's pointed at every major European city, and, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. city. They also had massive armies.

If war had occurred, The U.S. could have been completely annihilated, utterly destroyed, ceased to exist. That's simply not the situation we face with today with Islamic terrorists.

It's reasonable to ask the question if we might be willing to accept a handful of causalities in exchange to remaining a free country. Than, take the money we're spending on the MIC and use it for safer pools and bathtubs, saving an order of magnitude more lives.

davesims8• 13 years ago

It's a reasonable question, but is it practical? 9/11 only killed a fraction of the number who probably died in the last few days in the recent typhoon, but the effect was to bring the entire country and economy to a halt.

The US would need statesmanship beyond that of Churchill to galvanize and harden society against those eventualities.

Moreover, in an era of dirty bombs, chemical weapons and even full nuclear devices, the consequences might not always be merely a "handful of casualties," and the grotesque effects of certain weapons, particularly on children, would be images that would be highly likely to incite increasingly aggressive responses.

The US historically is not a society that is accustomed to the idea of being under any kind of siege, nor of allowing its families to remain under threat of any kind. That's not the underlying narrative, and it's just not in its DNA.

siculars2• 13 years ago

Thank you for your comment and thank you for coming to America. My mother also grew up under the disastrous USSR. These leftist apologists would rather slit their own throats, and certainly others, than stand up to true evil. Where is Der Spiegel on the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Syria? Or the complete terrorism of fundamentalist Islam?

I'm no fan of what we in the US are doing now. It needs to stop and be reigned in or everything we stand for will be for not.

davesims8• 13 years ago

Well, it ain't exactly Tocqueville, but it does provide an interesting perspective on how the US is viewed abroad.

The thesis is simplistic though, and can be distilled along pretty obvious classic political theory: every society has to balance liberty against order, and decide how to deploy power to defend its borders. It's the essential question in classic political philosophy from The Republic to Machiavelli and everything that came after.

It's not enough to simply repeat the ancient truism that "power and fear are dangerous," which should be axiomatic by now, particularly coming from a German point of view, which has spent the last half-century-plus contemplating that exact question, from the point of view of having quite dramatically been both oppressed and oppressor in that time frame.

The broad question that needs to become visible and widely discussed in American politics right now is both classic and novel, and quite frankly we need help in guiding this discussion:

The classic question that needs to be resurfaced is, how does the US become self-conscious and more transparent about the specific boundaries we draw between protecting order and establishing liberty?

The novel question in the new post-9/11 context is how to manage that same balance in the ongoing battle for intelligence which by definition requires tremendous secrecy and daring.

It's clear that many both in and outside the US are profoundly uncomfortable with the current state of NSA surveillance and I agree. But what is an appropriate level of surveillance? How can US citizens take back control of that conversation and make deliberate decisions about that kind of society we want to be?

And that's really the underlying problem that I think the Speigel article was simplistically, indirectly getting at: citizens in the US no longer have the democratic power to make those decisions. But in order for the governing powers to trust democratic processes to make those policies, we need to become self-aware and articulate enough to advocate those policies, and bring up leaders that energize and focus that discussion with real statesmanship.

Statesmanship! Where is it? Can it exist in the current broken and polarized political environment?

To the degree that we still have some democratic processes in place we are responsible to say more than just, "Snowden is right!" We have to know what kind of society we actually want to be in this new context.

The enemies and threats are new, but the questions are ancient. We have not yet adapted old answers to the new context. And for that we need not only novel political theoretical solutions, but the strong statesmanship to apply them.

swombat3• 13 years ago

The novel question in the new post-9/11 context is how to manage that same balance in the ongoing battle for intelligence which by definition requires tremendous secrecy and daring.

I'll give you the beginnings of an answer by addressing this statement.

The "battle for intelligence" is a fantasy created by those who would wield fear over you. In any society, there is a risk that some people are crazy and murderous. The solution to this is not a battle, but a hospital: care better for the crazy, and the they are far less likely to shoot up their neighbourhood. Negating that risk through a "battle for intelligence" is like negating the risk of bullying at school by installing a constantly monitored camera on every pupil's shoulder and electrocuting any transgressors. It may work, superficially, but it ain't the right solution. The cost isn't worth the benefit.

This addresses internal crazies. What about the external ones who want to destroy America? Same difference. Instead of fighting an endless war, ask why they are trying to "destroy America" in the first place, and fix that. While I do not condone terrorists in any way, the US has a deeply hypocritical foreign policy, and has had that for well over half a century. Change that, consistently for another half a century, and miraculously the hatred against America will vanish.

So the problem begins with your assertion that there is any "battle for intelligence" with a worthwhile definition, let alone one that requires "tremendous secrecy and daring". There isn't. It's all a paranoia in your and your compatriots' heads.

Which funnily enough, is precisely the point of the article.

cinquemb• 13 years ago

The "battle for intelligence" is a fantasy created by those who would wield fear over you.

I doubt this is the goal in and of itself. Just look at the reasoning for regulation of anything regardless of whether it would be effective or not: Control. And in that assumed control, brings power, and some understanding on a pragmatic level that one cannot control everything but the more information one has at their disposal can help them leverage things in their favor. Resources, ability to acquire resources, more power, etc.

Sure it's easy to say its paranoia, but when Correra got the phone call, he knew which way to walk the line on snowden. I'm sure Merkel has got the tap on the shoulder from time to time at g8/g20 or w/e meeting and knew which way to walk as well…

In a world where men make different laws and morals and enforce them how ever they choose, anything goes.

Edit: Here's some history behind institutionalization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinstitutionalisation#19th_ce.... Some brief reading tells me that is was dropped in favor of community health polices. So I guess some of the shortcomings of today are because of our local communities inability (or unwillingness) to deal with these issues? Hardly surprising when the favored behavior is to elect someone who parades themselves to do just that…

davesims8• 13 years ago

I wish this were true, and I share your compulsion, not necessarily a rational one, to prefer compassion and understanding and detente to bellicosity and intrigue.

Unfortunately for both of us, the truths of Machiavelli are not easily defeated, least of all by something as saccharine as "make love not war." The most tyrannical and imperialistic societies in history, from Rome to Stalin, often began with variations on such noble sentiments.

"Care better for the crazy." In other words, anyone who means to do harm to the republic should be institutionalized? How? By force I assume. Who defines "crazy"? The history of international conflict unfortunately is not a story of the rational and benevolent vs. the "crazy and murderous", but of competing ideologies, scarce resources, and plain corruption.

The problem with such naivete is that it assumes the problem is theoretical, and merely needs the correct sociological constructions and psychological theory implemented by benevolent institutions.

But how do those institutions grow over time? Who governs them, and which of the many competing and contradictory sociological and psychological models do we apply, first of all to define and identify "crazy," and then to apply the appropriate remedy? Further, what concrete example of such an application can you offer as proof that such a program works consistently on the local individual level, much less the international level?

Further, can you show through examples how such an institution sustains and protects itself through means other than power and violence?

rtpg• 13 years ago

Do you really think that all terrorism can be explained through mental illness solely? The IRA and ETA are both extremist movements with well defined goals, and structure. They wouldn't disappear through more mental care (maybe you're confusing this with school shootings?)

These groups are like the militias that plague countries in civil war. They have chains of commands and objectives and whatnot. This isn't like bullying in schools, this is more like rival gangs , or maybe rival gangs vs. the school administration. The fact that you think it's about "destroying America" proves your point.

Out of curiosity though, can you point out the hypocrisy in US foreign policy? Almost all actions taken in the past half century have been done with explicit American interests in mind, just like any other country's. You'd probably find that a lot of American resentment is consequence of economic policy (crushing local agriculture with subsidized products doesn't make many happy campers) more than foreign policy. Granted, countries that have been invaded by the US are probably the exception.

EDIT: I don't necessarily disagree with your thesis though, any time this sort of thing comes up (is the "battle for intelligence" a thing), I think of this article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/BUGGER) which basically answers 'no' in a much more convincing way than anyone on HN has ever been able to do.

jivatmanx3• 13 years ago

A useful anecdote is that Sensebrenner, the substantial author of the Patriot act, seemed shocked and almost entirely unaware how it's provisions have been interpreted and used.

If the intelligence community can't even have a reasonable relationship with the tiny minority of the most elite members of congress heading committees and authoring their bills, there is little hope for much else.

rainsford2• 13 years ago

I'm not sure Sensenbrenner is the best example of what you're talking about. While he did introduce the Patriot Act, he's not a member of the intelligence committee (which is where the minimum required Congressional relationship you're talking about should exist). And for better or worse, the relationship there with the intelligence community seems to be great. Mike Rogers and Dianne Feinstein (who chair the House and Senate intelligence committees, respectively) are among the biggest supporters of US intelligence agencies. Now you could argue that their positions make them biased (although it also makes them better informed), but it's hard to argue that they're not more useful anecdotes than Sensenbrenner.

omonra2• 13 years ago

I want to thank for your thoughtful comment. My first reaction to the article was dismissive (ie bugging of foreign leaders phones is what I expect an effective intelligence service to do). But your elaboration makes a stronger case.

However - assuming a hypothetical - that US held a referendum (like they do in Switzerland) and majority of population voted for NSA surveillance / Guantanomo / drone strikes (ie all the issues that make most on HN viscerally uncomfortable). What then - can we still decry the fall of democracy?

davesims8• 13 years ago

Heh, now you're throwing Socrates' critique of Democracy at me? :)

Sure -- democracy is no guarantee. Referendums go wrong. Aaaand we're back to the Enlightenment political question of how best to balance the will of the masses (which can become a mob in the right circumstances, or an instrument of oppression to the minority) against the wisdom of representative government -- a republic. A sticky wicket indeed. The idealism here -- and I freely admit that it is based on a naive Modern optimism -- is that a transparent, representative democracy, rather than a direct democracy, corrupts more slowly over time and retains the highest possibility of self-reform of all types of governments.

cryptolect• 13 years ago

Surveillance capability has advanced beyond broader public awareness and legislative controls. The gap between what can and what cannot be monitored continues to shrink. It's in the various intelligence agencies best interest to not educate the public, so they don't.

This is why recent revelations have proved so shocking. There has always been an assumption that checks and balances would prevent such fascist behavior from taking root. Instead, it's being legalized in secret courts without any public involvement. Now that behavior has been exposed, laws are being drafted to publicly legitimize what's been performed in private (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/10/sen-feinsteins-nsa-bil...).

All this in the name of security. In a country where the loudest politicians are publicly 'fiscally conservative', yet somehow the US still spends more on its military than the next 10 highest defense budgets combined (http://pgpf.org/Chart-Archive/0053_defense-comparison).

Where truly can the US go from here?

davesims8• 13 years ago

This is exactly the question. If the channels of democracy still exist in any form (and the alternative is unthinkable), then we have to take control of them and put forth real statesmen to answer this challenge. The consequence of failing to do so is a society that steadily descends into complacency and despair.

EDIT: BTW, I've no idea why your comment is not higher. Anyone downvoting it is not paying attention imo.

VLM4• 13 years ago

"If the channels of democracy still exist in any form (and the alternative is unthinkable), then we have to take control of them and put forth real statesmen to answer this challenge."

Of course the alternative is thinkable. History and politics and sociology classes are not that carefully censored and some people actually like the liberal arts. World history did not being with the US constitution and it'll go on past it, its already just a piece of paper as our leaders say, so I guess we are already in a post-constitutional era.

You won't be permitted to change things by voting. As has been said before, if voting could change anything it would be outlawed. You'll be given two choices, one who is in support of the NSA and says he opposes abortion but won't do anything about it, and the other who is in support of the NSA and says he supports a womans right to choose but won't do anything about it, because divide and conquer is how you control uneducated people, and no one is more uneducated than your average American, although there is a cultural goal to obtain training to obtain credentials to obtain a job to become a consumer.

The purpose of a democracy is to provide a tranquilizing influence on the masses once mass media exists, until mass media is conglomerated and mergered into only a few large controllable corporations. At that point democracy is not even needed as a soporific. This is the stage we're at now, confusion that we're subjects or serfs but not fully realizing it yet, just kinda confused.

This isn't just being grouchy or pessimistic; its a blueprint for the future. Want to know what will happen next election? Closest thing to a time machine ever invented? Read the above closely and guess what happens next based on it. History never repeats itself, but it does occasionally rhyme.

scrrr• 13 years ago

Maybe it's a silly theory, but just I thought the other day that the increased fear of disaster is a result of less spirituality in the west. (= decline of christianity, increase of atheism) And also a result of detachment from nature (= life in cities, spending lots of time in cyberspace etc.)

Perhaps the less you believe in life after death or a meaning of life, the more afraid you are of terrorists. The less likely you are to smoke cigarettes. The more you start to believe in technology. And so forth..

As if any of that would prevent the inevitable..

These thoughts are probably just the direct result of my current location (Buddhist Asia) and the South Park episode about NSA-surveillance. ;) (but its a good episode.)

I guess my point is: People need/want/tend to believe in something, and if that something isn't religion, it's something else.

VLM4• 13 years ago

"People need/want/tend to believe in something"

Isn't there data that correlates an inverse relationship with education?

Combine that with a system intentionally designed to de-educate children and culture in general, and the future results aren't pretty, but are predictable.

I think you might be missing an aspect where "fear of terrorists" is an extremely thinly disguised "fear of non white people". or an aspect of "Finally, an excuse to attack Israel's enemies". Aside from the obvious military-industrial complex profit seeking corruption.

andyl• 13 years ago

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

VLM4• 13 years ago

One interesting analysis is cause and effect and minimizing total casualties.

9/11 resulted in preplanned implementation of security theater, because good security can be inconvenient, anything inconvenient must be good security, right?

(something that didn't happen) results in preplanned implementation of big brother style surveillance of the entire worlds population. Its profitable for contractors and hardware mfgrs and great for industrial espionage etc etc. Also it makes a population of dunces feel safer because (something that didn't happen) could have been prevented, in theory, by the new, Bigger Big Brother.

So... what was (something that didn't happen)? Were we as a nation planning on nuking SV and leaking the reaction plan before it happened eliminated the reason for us to nuke SV ourselves? We "need" a reason to attack Iran to extent WWIII in the ME, so I could see if some Cuban citizens nuke SV so we invade Iran and publicize the "new" spy programs. In that way, looking at what it cost to implement 9/11, program leakers are probably saving thousands of lives, maybe more, by skipping the Reichstag fire and going right to the oppression stage. How many people, as a country, were we planning to kill to implement the recently revealed spy programs?

siculars2• 13 years ago

Brody actually was a terrorist. Who's paranoid now?

rainsford2• 13 years ago

It's a little hard to take someone seriously when they come up with a grand theory on some particular topic and then use a TV show as their supporting example. I had the same problem back in the Bush years when people would support torture by saying it worked on '24'.

I understand that nobody is REALLY saying that something is valid just because it was in a TV show. But the fact that they couldn't think of a real life example of their position suggests to me that maybe they aren't informed enough to be having such strong opinions in the first place. For the Hacker News audience, it would be like opening an article on computer security with an example of "hacking" from the show NCIS (anyone who's ever watched it knows what I'm talking about).

tptacek• 13 years ago

Wow. This is among the worst political articles I've ever seen posted here; its lede is literally about a cable soap opera about the CIA, and its premise is that the US shares a memetic heritage with other "paranoid" democracies like Israel and South Africa. Absent is any real comparison to the democracies of Europe, or for that matter any analysis of US democracy that wouldn't be available to a US high school sophomore sitting on his couch. That's because it's not actually analysis, but rather a rageview-generating provocation gussied up as one.

How did this get voted up onto the front page? Are people forgetting the flag button?

mixmastamyk• 13 years ago

I found the author's main idea valid and the connection to the threat of Native Americans interesting but a stretch. The details are what sink this piece. Perhaps a great-great grandfather of mine worried about Indians, but its likely most have zero connection to that mindset today (attacks from similar).

Paradise Lost: Paranoia Has Undermined US Democracy

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