Monday, June 24, 2013

I Ain't Running for Prom Queen

When I very much need support to be able to pull off this upcoming adventure, currying favor with people seems like the appropriate way to go but the material I've been writing lately regarding Edward Snowden has greatly alienated people.  Nevertheless it's important to me to write it as I strongly believe the man needs support.

Sometimes you reach a point in life when something has gone farther than ever should have been permitted.  You can ignore it and forever wish you hadn't or you can stand up.  The most shallow reaction is to portray what I write as America bashing as that's only true insofar as what has been done to it by recent administrations.

Everything is more complicated than it seems.  While Bush was a horror in terms of defending the Constitution, he also sent quite large sums of money to Africa to fight the horrendous problems with AIDS there.  Obama has done quite wonderful work in support of medical coverage but he too has treated the Constitution with contempt, all in the name of security.  Both missed the point altogether that security means nothing if you can't protect the Constitution as that is what enemies of the state want to destroy the most.

It's troubling that the reaction on Facebook to what has been happening could not possibly have been more flaccid but at the same time it's encouraging that Google+ has a quite active thread with many people contributing to it.  Any perception that all social networks are the same only shows lack of familiarity with them.  Facebook is showing itself to be less and less relevant all the time whereas Google+ is making a quite strong effort to improve the product as the communities there are highly-vibrant and it's much more than a thinly-disguised marketing device.  The irony is that Google+ is substantially more effective for marketing and professionals in this field seem to prefer it.

So, I will continue writing what I think needs to be written.  That may not serve me so well but Snowden didn't do what he did to serve himself.  What I write is minor relative to the sacrifice he made.

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