Today I came across this 3.5 years old John Oliver video regarding one of the greatest heroes of our time. The first half wasn't really that valuable. But in the second half he does something truly amazing. He actually gets the American public to care about privacy. But before that he asked people about Snowden and they were clueless about who he is and what he actually did. This not knowing anything is a very important point. Later these people are asked about Dick Pics. Suddenly they become model privacy concerned intelligent individuals (by thinking about their dicks)
Now going beyond that sad reality, I came across this comment that is a paragon of stupidity:
It's a great way to put the story in perspective. HOWEVER, it has actually completely convinced me that these laws should stay in place, even though it's very obvious that this is the opposite of what was intended. Let's take his example of dick pics. Let's say we eliminate all ways that the government could see a picture of your dick. Wouldn't that mean that all that actual terrorists need to do is put their information within a picture of a dick? It would literally be the perfect way for terrorists to make impenetrable (heh) communications, because we have prevented ourselves from seeing them!
I'll go even further, and outline a plan that terrorists could conceivably use to send secret messages, and the only way anyone could read them is by looking at dozens of completely unedited dick pics, without even any text within the picture. Are you familiar with semaphore? That's alright if you aren't, few people are. It's the conveying of messages by holding two small flags in different directions, with each position representing a letter (or a space). Do you know what else can be positioned to be pointing in different directions? A dick. By merely sending two dick pics per letter, you can send a coded message and everyone else will simply think you're sexting. Now this method would be hard to decipher even under current systems because you'd have to analyze the pictures as a set rather than individually, and no computer program that just analyzes individual images would pick up on it. However, under John Oliver's perfect world, in which the government cannot see your dick pics, this code is literally unbreakable.
Dunning-Kruger Effect 101
Some grand iditon on the internet who has no idea about PGP or even Telegram which has 200 million monthly active users try to school everybody masquerading as some intelligent people because this idiot got to learn about one simple concept called semaphore. Also this idiot miss the entire point of the video. He imagine a world where everything is under surveillance except for Dick Pics and thinks about using Dick Pics as a form of encrypted communication instead of just using PGP.
These are the people making decisions in our world. It is not an exaggeration to say that these are the people who enable greatest atrocities on this planet. You don't have to take my word for it. You can ask a man who has done the deed himself.
Psychologist Gustave Gilbert was interviewing Hermann Wilhelm Göring during the Nuremberg trials and this is is a conversation that was recorded.
We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering shrugged. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”
“There is one difference,” I pointed out. “In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”
“Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
No Dictator is Capable of Genocide
Notice all the people around cheering. They are the ones who made the atrocities happen. Hitler was a democratically elected leader. Where Hitler's regime ended up being is where any democracy eventually end up being. Why? Read the top part of the article. We have people who have no idea about the things they are voting for making decisions. The informed cannot be manipulated. The informed is not receptive to fear mongering. The informed take responsible decisions that can lead to good consequences. The uninformed would swallow anything that has been fed to that NPC soul.
Now Here Are Some of The Top Comments For The Last Video
Ignorance is The Root of All Evil
People don't care about privacy until their private parts are shared online and among NSA personal. They'd gladly attack those who stand for privacy. They'd say Snowden was a traitor. They'd embrace a little bit of surveillance and then a little bit more. When crypto go mainstream and when "normies" join, don't expect them to have the same values we have. The only defense we have is creating accessible and easy to use technology and make them popular before government controlled counterparts take over.
This is why I'm always brushing aside Monero and pick Dash and PIVX (zPIV). If it takes few dollars to transact privately, nobody is really going to use that tech. We need high degree of privacy (doesn't have to be airtight) at the price of few cents using a mobile wallet. We haven't reached this point yet. But at least Dash and PIVX have completed initial development regarding this aspect. What we need to do is promote these technologies.
Tell Them It is Cheaper - Tell Them The Neighbor Can Spy on You
Most people don'grow a brain until they have their dick on the line (or any other sensitive/embarrassing issue). They don't have many sensible values. So speak to their basic sensibilities. If we do that, maybe privacy and freedom will have a future.
All good points, the one side of privacy we must keep in mind is the privacy of criminals (especially those in the government and major corporations that run this country).
If this privacy perpetuates their ability to inflict damage on the lower classes, then I might be willing to have my wiener out on the internet if that means more justice for all.
It's a tough line to draw.
I upvoted your post.
Keep steeming for a better tomorrow.
@Acknowledgement - God Bless
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