Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Winter Moon<\/p>\n
Snowden did us all a good turn. \u00a0I don’t see others saying it, so I will. \u00a0It’s no accident that a US Judge for the first time applied the 4th amendment to the NSA’s actions. \u00a0Without Snowden’s leaks we would have no idea how far this opaque bureaucracy had gone in eroding our privacy rights. \u00a0We could not have a debate about the reasonable limits of super snooping with cyber tools. Though computer surveillance was not imaginable in the Revolutionary era, abuses perpetrated by the powerful were.<\/p>\n
Franklin’s famous quip applies here: \u00a0“They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” \u00a0the original quote according to this wiki site<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also, how about those Catholics? \u00a0Did John Nienstedt really touch a confirmand’s butt? Who knows? \u00a0What is known is that the Nixon lesson is difficult to learn for those in positions of power. \u00a0The cover up is often worse than the crime. \u00a0That’s true in this case.<\/p>\n Why? \u00a0Well, covering up sexual abuse by priests is on the face not as bad as the act itself; but, when that cover up allows known offenders to circulate through different parishes and ministries with the laity ignorant, then the cover up facilitates the abuser, gives them opportunities to offend they would not have had in a transparent system.<\/p>\n This is an old boy’s club where a wink here and a nod there pass for scrutiny. \u00a0Much like the NSA.<\/p>\n One more place where secrecy and male domination protect abusers. \u00a0The military. \u00a0When rapists know their crimes will go up the chain of command, up the ladder in a buddy system, then the logic of deterrence due to exposure lessens. \u00a0A lot.<\/p>\n In all three of these large institutions run by men the rationalizations of the powerful take precedent over the needs of the powerless. \u00a0This is sexism in the service of sexual abuse and the erosion of personal privacy. \u00a0Considered from one perspective sexual abuse is, too, a dramatic case of the erosion of personal privacy.<\/p>\n Where is the Ed Snowden in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis\/St. Paul? \u00a0They need to step forward, files and computer discs in hand. \u00a0We need them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Samhain \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Winter Moon Snowden did us all a good turn. \u00a0I don’t see others saying it, so I will. \u00a0It’s … Continue reading Sexism and Privacy<\/span>