Responding to NSA surveillance revelations by saying people should simply “be careful what they write on Facebook” actually sums up how totalitarian systems work and why PRISM is so dangerous. If the constant gaze of the government changes the way you behave or means that you don’t speak when you might have spoken, then your freedom no longer exists. You have become the policeman inside your own head.

This is the goal of every authoritarian regime that has ever existed. A police state might get some satisfaction from having the ability to easily round up insubordinates but the ultimate prize is a population that is incapable of disobedience to begin with.

AN AMUSING ANECDOTE

My wife and I rent a small cottage on the shimmering shores of Lake Superior every summer. The rustic little bungalow is made of rough-hewn logs chinked with mud, and the front door opens onto an unequaled vista of towering evergreens and azure water — just the thing to settle the nerves of an addled contestant in the “rat race.”

Last summer my wife and I were merrily preparing a hearty supper of fresh-caught trout and corn on the cob, when who should wander up but a little old man with a bulging knapsack strapped to his ancient back. He looked like a crusty forest tracker from the days of Lewis and Clark. Hailing us from a distance, he approached our modest lakeside cabin and extended his weathered hand in greeting. Bending forward under the weight of his burden, he whispered something in my ear.

It was an amusing anecdote!

- from Army Man

George Meyer’s comedy zine
(One of the founding writers of The Simpsons)

(via Amy Zoetrope)