I understand that we should be upset about corporations and governments going into our private lives, but I can't go there. Communities of color, to be more specific, Black people, have been in the gaze of government since Reconstruction. Indeed, the KKK was formed to right the South after reconstruction and government officials were part of that organization - yes, the sheriffs, etc. They monitored what Blacks did and said and had no problem with a reign on terror on people who challenged white supremacy. But government monitoring was alright then.
MLK and many others in the Civil Rights movement were monitored by the government (and frankly, I don't care if it's the NSA, CIA, or the FBI. It's all gov'mint). But government monitoring was alright then.
Countless Jews were monitored by the government because of the alleged connection between Jews and communism (another of countless stereotypes against Jews). But government monitoring was alright then.
Oh yeah, the Japanese internments during World War II. But government monitoring was alright then.
The FBI, with COINTELPRO, had informants in the Women's Movement during the 1960s. The irony was that they didn't understand what was going on during the meetings because they didn't understand what women were doing to fight sexism and the language that broke it down. But government monitoring was alright then.
Are you a Black woman on welfare? During the late 1980s and 1990s, the state governments through the foodstamp programs monitored how many children you had and sometimes forcibly made you use hormonal forms of birth control so your sort had no more children. But government monitoring was alright then.
Muslims have been subject to monitoring since 9/11/01 for no other reason than they're Muslim. But in the name of preventing another 9/11, government monitoring was alright then.
But another demographic has the possibility of being ensnared in government monitoring?! Horrors! Overreaching! How could you? Let's share all of the information that the government has collected on you!
I don't hold hold Assange or Snowden responsible for the historical instances of government monitoring. However, dumping information just for the sake of dumping information is not revolutionary action. Particularly if it's disconnected from people who are part of movements that are trying to dismantle oppressive structures in society.
Further, people who work in these social change movements are willing to face the state for their actions, signs of real courage given what happens to people in prison. People were given trials that were a crock and served prison terms anyway. Not because they did anything wrong, but they knew that would have to happen to move the dial on oppression in the U.S. These two simply want to escape responsibility for their actions. I think this undermines the overarching argument that they're trying to make. Indeed, their argument seems to be I'll dump information and I'll go ahead and lead the cushy life I deserve (in Ecuador or the embassy). This is not revolutionary at all. And, let's not forget that Assange is not dodging charges for dumping information, he is dodging an investigation for RAPE. RAPE. By refusing to face the music on this investigation, to me, it looks like he defends his God-given right as a male to dominate women and use their bodies, no matter what they have to say about it, at his pleasure. No, I don't give a damn about his hiding out in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. If you didn't rape this woman, man up and say so. If you did, own your actions. That would be radical. A man who owned up to raping a woman and having genuine contrition for it. But that's asking too much.
So all of this information dumping strikes me as the work of disconnected white guys who aren't terribly concerned about the overall picture of oppression in the world. Excuse me if I pay no more attention to them. Just saying'!
