Page 54 - Sept Oct Issue
P. 54
The Snowden Effect and Tolerance
a prominent US scholar, lawyer, jurist, and author has often articulated that it is each person’s duty to defy
posited the following counter position. the climate of fear wherever fear exists. The Snowden
Effect is to do just that-to defy the climate of fear and
Surveillance properly conducted and properly intolerance, and to stand up for truth and transparency.
limited can really and genuinely protect our
liberties. No state has ever survived without some Our educational system, beginning at the grade school
surveillance. And no state deserves to survive if it level, should teach the values of progressive thinking,
has too much surveillance, particularly of its own humanitarian reform, intercultural competence, and
citizens. A balance must be struck, but that balance social justice in a pluralistic society. Our religious
cannot eliminate the power of the government to institutions have an obligation to teach their parishioners
obtain information necessary for the defense of our that a godly or spiritual life is evident by nurturing the
freedoms. common bonds of humanity.
A proper balance requires a proper process for A heart infused with tolerance toward all humankind
deciding when surveillance is justiied [and] when actuates the Snowden Effect. Regardless of pedigree,
the need for preventive intelligence is greater in socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, race,
any particular case than the need for privacy. And ethnicity, language, religion, or national origin, each
in striking that balance, it’s important to distinguish person can make a decision to harness the transcendent
among different types and degrees of surveillance. power of love and compassion to preserve harmony and
liberty.
We need far more demanding processes and controls
over the use of surveillance both by government and All you have to do is imagine a world you’d want your
private agencies. A heavy burden must be placed children to live in and enjoy. Imagine a world where the
on those who would intrude on our privacy, but that light of your being continually connects with the light
burden must be realistically designed to strike a of another person’s heart. Imagine a place where you
proper balance between two equally legitimate but can give birth to your most cherished ambitions without
competing values: the need for our government to reproach, criticism, or censure.
know what our enemies are planning; and the need
to protect our privacy from those who place too high Imagine a life that is lived to its fullest capacity where
a value on security and too low a value on privacy. It everyone supports and celebrates your development
is possible to strike such a balance, and that is where through the lifespan. Imagine an existence where
our efforts should be directed. total and unconditional acceptance of differences and
similarities is a way of life.
Clearly, “[Mr. Snowden’s] actions have in effect led
to the reintroduction of trust and transparency as As human beings, we have the ability to create a world
a leading principle in global security policies.[10] where diversity and inclusion for those who are not
His actions suggest that we should not consent to the majority become the norm. The creation of this
political or religious authority when that authority world begins in our minds. The Snowden Effect is not
is not living up to its social contract with societal some obscure fantasy that lies outside our reality. It is
members. something in which we can choose to participate.
No citizen should be forced into obeisance to an Until we make a decision to live each moment with a
intolerable government or organization. We should sense of collected purpose and belonging, we threaten
reject every appeal by any institution to thoughtlessly our collective security. Until we come together in
follow policies and practices that threaten civil conversation and discuss where we have been, and
liberties. where we would like to be in the future, we are putting
our freedoms in jeopardy. Until we make a decision to
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald embrace our prerogatives as a free species, we risk
54
a prominent US scholar, lawyer, jurist, and author has often articulated that it is each person’s duty to defy
posited the following counter position. the climate of fear wherever fear exists. The Snowden
Effect is to do just that-to defy the climate of fear and
Surveillance properly conducted and properly intolerance, and to stand up for truth and transparency.
limited can really and genuinely protect our
liberties. No state has ever survived without some Our educational system, beginning at the grade school
surveillance. And no state deserves to survive if it level, should teach the values of progressive thinking,
has too much surveillance, particularly of its own humanitarian reform, intercultural competence, and
citizens. A balance must be struck, but that balance social justice in a pluralistic society. Our religious
cannot eliminate the power of the government to institutions have an obligation to teach their parishioners
obtain information necessary for the defense of our that a godly or spiritual life is evident by nurturing the
freedoms. common bonds of humanity.
A proper balance requires a proper process for A heart infused with tolerance toward all humankind
deciding when surveillance is justiied [and] when actuates the Snowden Effect. Regardless of pedigree,
the need for preventive intelligence is greater in socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, race,
any particular case than the need for privacy. And ethnicity, language, religion, or national origin, each
in striking that balance, it’s important to distinguish person can make a decision to harness the transcendent
among different types and degrees of surveillance. power of love and compassion to preserve harmony and
liberty.
We need far more demanding processes and controls
over the use of surveillance both by government and All you have to do is imagine a world you’d want your
private agencies. A heavy burden must be placed children to live in and enjoy. Imagine a world where the
on those who would intrude on our privacy, but that light of your being continually connects with the light
burden must be realistically designed to strike a of another person’s heart. Imagine a place where you
proper balance between two equally legitimate but can give birth to your most cherished ambitions without
competing values: the need for our government to reproach, criticism, or censure.
know what our enemies are planning; and the need
to protect our privacy from those who place too high Imagine a life that is lived to its fullest capacity where
a value on security and too low a value on privacy. It everyone supports and celebrates your development
is possible to strike such a balance, and that is where through the lifespan. Imagine an existence where
our efforts should be directed. total and unconditional acceptance of differences and
similarities is a way of life.
Clearly, “[Mr. Snowden’s] actions have in effect led
to the reintroduction of trust and transparency as As human beings, we have the ability to create a world
a leading principle in global security policies.[10] where diversity and inclusion for those who are not
His actions suggest that we should not consent to the majority become the norm. The creation of this
political or religious authority when that authority world begins in our minds. The Snowden Effect is not
is not living up to its social contract with societal some obscure fantasy that lies outside our reality. It is
members. something in which we can choose to participate.
No citizen should be forced into obeisance to an Until we make a decision to live each moment with a
intolerable government or organization. We should sense of collected purpose and belonging, we threaten
reject every appeal by any institution to thoughtlessly our collective security. Until we come together in
follow policies and practices that threaten civil conversation and discuss where we have been, and
liberties. where we would like to be in the future, we are putting
our freedoms in jeopardy. Until we make a decision to
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald embrace our prerogatives as a free species, we risk
54
