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Edited on Sat Dec-17-05 04:06 PM by shance
After the news broke of the Bush Administration actively imposing spying tactics on any and all Americans, many within the media, or more accurately, the Media Industrial Complex went into damage control, initiating such outrageous polls asking "Is it okay for President Bush to spy on Americans?".
One can only wonder if this is tolerated further, what their next poll will be. Will it be something like "Is it okay for President Bush to imprison Americans who don't support his policies? The lines of reason and ethics continue to be crossed and the level of abuse of power increases in size, scale and magnitude.
The definition of a "spy" from the Oxford dictionary is "a person who secretly watches or gathers information about the activities of others and reports the results, one employed by the government".
Perhaps the most important element of the act of spying is the secrecy itself.
When secrecy is continually used in any realm, particularly by those who abuse their power, it inevitably will be used in ways that are abusive and harm those that don't surrender their power to the abuser.
It can be used to blackmail individuals, but more importantly it can be used to control and frighten people, leaving them feeling vulnerable and under someone else's power and control. It is not simply the "spying" thats the problem, although spying in and of itself can be a form of abuse, its what is accompanied by the spying and those who are invading someone elses life and personal day to day activities. Moreover, the imbalance of power is slanted towards those wishing to dominate and control what is not theirs to control to begin with.
Spying when used by those abusing power, becomes a form of stalking. The problem when any kind of secret methods used against others is it can be abused as is happening now. The reason spying is essentially illegal, not to mention immoral, is the truth becomes the casualty whenever secrecy is repeatedly employed without any form of accountability. If a person or organization in power has an agenda against another person or agenda who does NOT yield that same power, then the person in power has the control to harm that person(s), and the chance of abuse or mistreatment is greatly increased due to the lop sided balance of power.
We see it in our election system now where private companies owned by Republicans are tallying almost all our votes by technology that can easily be manipulated and alter the results of an election. We see it in our media, where our networks are being controlled by those abusing power and in addition they are promoting the agenda of those abusing their power. So, again the secrecy and imbalance of power is being used to allow more abuse and dominance over our Democracy. As the phrase goes, "its the secrecy stupid", because the secrecy allows those who abuse, to abuse and inflict harm on those who do not abuse. The victim becomes the offender, and the truth becomes the enemy.
A healthy government and civilization hold transparency and accountability as sacred. It is the transparency and accountability that are at the foundation of all good governing, and maintaining such freedom and inclusiveness for everyone is a responsibility by all of those participating in their government.
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