Why it’s so hard to keep up with how the U.S. gov't is spying on its own people

Re:Why it’s so hard to keep up with how the U.S. gov't is sp... by rayiner on Monday November 23, 2015 @03:00PM (#10616894)

You're mixing up two different things: 1) Whether surveillance is ethical; 2) Whether surveillance means "the government isn't 'working for you'". The "appeal to mom" is perfectly valid as a response to assertions of (2), which is what 'DickingAround invoked.

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Re:Why it’s so hard to keep up with how the U.S. gov't is sp... by rmxt on Monday November 23, 2015 @03:59PM (#10617251)

I'm not doing this mixing unintentionally -- I'm trying to sort out what you are trying to achieve in your response to the GP. The "appeal to mom" is, I agree, a valid response to part of DickingAround's assertion. A fair amount of people do indeed, agree with "mom's opinion". However, I am attempting to disentangle your (presumably techno-capable, 20-30-40-something year old) apathy (distaste?) for HN's predominating views on surveillance ("echo chamber", "I'm not going to vote") from the opinion of people like your mother. Leaning on the opinion of middle-aged America so as to justify your apathy towards surveillance smacks of the easy way out when talking about tangled corporate and government interests.

[ Parent | on HN ]