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The Patriot Act - Does the end justify the means?

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The people watching and listening feel justified in how they understand and use information.
The people watching and listening feel justified in how they understand and use information.
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The Patriot Act - Does the end justify the means?

There are many conservatives who believe that the "end does justify the means". What would you do in your life if an alcoholic severely injured or killed one of your love ones; or drug pushers took advantage of your children by getting them addicted, then taking advantage of them sexually; or you worked hard to provide for your family, while others perform illegal activities to get ahead?

This is the BIG dilemma facing law enforcement and our communities in America. There are not enough people to monitor those who want to take advantage of people. So...years ago the government decided to go digital and put a plan in place to capture all things digital. They even gave out free digital phones to those who could not afford them (they still do today). The logic...those who create the most wear on our society are those who are struggling and not looking to get ahead. Then came the Patriot Act. Some say the Patriot Act came into play because of 911. It didn't. It was the means to turn it on...legally. It had been planned for a long time. In fact, there were analog news stories years before 911 about the secret facility in Maryland that was being built for data capture.

The premise was and still is..."That if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about".

Here is the problem. The people capturing data and using the data can (and will) use it to satisfy their own agenda - whether that agenda is religiously based, politically based or sociologically economic based. The data capturing is equivalent to the 12th man in football, giving those who use it the upper hand on activities going on locally, nationally or globally.

It can be used to by those individuals to understand your belief system, your political preferences, etc. Basically, they can use the data to capture everything about your daily routine. With this information, they can manipulate your life and even set you up to fail if they don't like the way you are living or the way you think. Framing people now becomes a piece of cake.

The issue is this: Those doing the data capturing and monitoring always believe they are right and take no responsibility, hold no accountability for their actions for the lives they affect (or destroy). To them the "End justifies the means". These people feel justified, as long as it fits into their religious, political, sociological or economic agenda.

My advice: Don't listen to any political leader who says they will turn off the Patriot Act, the Freedom Act or any other surveillance legislation, especially any conservative. They won't. So...Keep doing what is right, educate yourself and work towards getting yourself out of compromising or bad situations. All Lives Matter.

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I am not passing conservatives off as bigots and anti-Americans...just stuck in the past and hypocritical in many ways. Listen, if we could ensure that the Patriot Act would never be used for bias agendas and only used solely to protect people, then it may work. The truth is...everyone has biases and prejudices. We are all human.

The information and social media can be used to justify any surveillance scenario (religious, corporate, political, wealth (greed), feminist). It is simply dangerous. The American people don't trust our politicians, so why would we trust them with protecting our privacy?

Here are the facts...

Per wikipedia...The Patriot Act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001"

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A former conservative turned independent. I tend to lean with Progressives. My more recent articles are written to give readers an insight, but not to take a particular position necessarily. The goal is to get readers to use critical thinking (more...)
 

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