The New Gods
As symbol of the omniscient omnipotent, omnipresent eyes and ears of the national security state, the fellow on the right, James Clapper, known as the Director of National Intelligence, embodies the National Security Administration. He has taken his cue from the Judeo-Christian God and serves as the new Yahweh. All bow down. According to news reports he lied to the U.S. Senate but then he was just doing his duty.
Ironically and with a nod toward the theatre of the absurd, the following headlines from Britain’s Guardian newspaper demonstrate how the case of the premier leaker, Mr. Edward Snowden, threatens the industrialization of secrets. (Mr. Snowden only pointed out the obvious.) Here are today’s headlines.
European parliament president ‘deeply worried’ by claims in Der Spiegel that US bugged EU offices
Correa: Biden asked me to deny Snowden asylum
Snowden has not weakened president, says Rice
US army blocks access to Guardian website
From truthdig.com, we learn that “Retired Gen. James E. Cartwright, the former second-ranking officer in the U.S. military and influential adviser to President Obama on security matters, is the focus of an investigation into a leak of classified information about American cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program.” And that “Redacted FBI Documents Show Plot to Kill Occupy Leaders If ‘Deemed Necessary.’”
Back in the 50s during the age of McCarthyism, nobody, not even patriotic generals of the army were safe from allegations of being called “communist” sympathizers by dastardly politicians. J.Edgar Hoover, the late director of the FBI, kept a dossier, reportedly, on everyone, including congressman and women, who might threaten his budget. Ronald Reagan, a “B” actor, Gov. and President, was a product of the Hoover culture.
Today, the government is going after patriotic careerists from NSA (James Cartwright, William Binney, Tom Drake) and low-level employees (Bradley Manning, Ed Snowden), who can be called “leakers” or “whistleblowers.” They’ve pissed on the surveillance state by revealing that NSA is engaged in the collection of “metadata” or all written and electronic data produced not only in the USA but in the whole world.
Like the gods of Homer or the God of the Bible, the listeners and watchers see, hear, and store everything in their collective consciousness. Those in the official employ of the U.S. Government, like members of the U.S. military, are forbidden to admit that which is known or published in the press and posted online, lest they be charged with espionage, a word used today for the criminalization of speech.
We have entered a world like the one depicted in George Orwell’s 1984, wherein we must practice saying and believing that 2 + 2 equals 5 as we turn truth into a malleable property, serving the nonsense statutes. Although the national security state is founded on selling fear of terrorists to the general population, the occupiers of NSA and the USA are fearful lest their targets—American citizens–rebel and point out that “the emperor has no clothes.”
Well, the masters of the information stream need not worry. Between surviving the orchestrated downturn of the economy and the demands of popular culture, shopping and entertainment—the opiate of the people—the citizenry has little time or interest in following the playful manifestation of the elitist’s power struggle.
I suppose it’s only a question of time before Democracy Now, Truthdig.com, and even Taos Friction are shut down. Though we are no threat, we are symbolic of virtual reality and only live in space and time, courtesy of James Clapper and his aide-de camp, Barack Obama. Before we are all ordered into a massive internal federal witness protection program, let us eat green chile and laugh. Pray for us.