Oppression, Power, And Action
When individuals are rendered powerless to challenge their oppressors, what action is one to take?
The citizens of our developed world are greatly threatened by the powers exerted by increasingly militarized police forces and mass intelligence gathering. Entities like the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) have effectively circumvented individual right-to-privacy protections under the guise of maintaining the nation’s security. In the NSA’s own words:
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) leads the U.S. Government in cryptology that encompasses both signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (now referred to as cybersecurity) products and services, and enables computer network operations (CNO) in order to gain a decision advantage for the Nation and our allies under all circumstances (“Mission & Values,” NSA.gov).
The NSA has openly and unabashedly secured for itself the power to lead the United States of America in whatever way it sees fit, as long as all action taken is self-described as a decision made to gain “advantage for the Nation and our allies,” i.e., the NSA has gained authoritarian, clandestine powers over its own people. Their format for control is the most obvious of power-plays: protection in exchange for control.
