Embedded Files
Introduction:
Look around your home; look at your computer or laptop, look at your phone, look at your tablet, or even look at your Alexa or Google Home. Each and every one of these devices track some aspect of your life, where you go, what you look up, who you talk to, what you say, and even what you believe in; and all of this data is stored in data centers all over the country. This data can be used to ‘personalize’ the information you absorb through the internet. But all of this data is also used by government agencies like the FBI, CIA, or NSA to watch you, to ensure that you are not what they deem to be a danger to the United States. In our modern world almost everything we do is tracked by the government in some way or the other, even as I type this, my keystrokes are being kept track of by my computer, and it is entirely possible that the data is sent to some algorithm to do who knows what.
But Why do This:
But why does the government feel the need to watch over citizens, despite the fact that most citizens are completely innocent? What purpose does tracking the movement of most people have? The answer is deceptively simple, the reason the government is so watchful is fear. Fear of the other, fear of the different, fear of the supposed enemy. This can be fear of a group of people, an organization, or an entire ideology. This fear can take many forms; discrimination, surveillance, xenophobia, etc, etc. To the government fear is more of a tool, a tool to be used and to be abused. If the people are afraid of something they will be more receptive to so-called solutions even if they are immoral or unjust. Whether it be the coups we funded or the wars we started, the important figures of the time deemed it okay as a way of destroying what we feared, and surveillance is in a similar boat. To understand the fear that has dictated so much of U.S. foreign and domestic policy is to look at the whole of its history, but to look at fear in a more modern sense the “easiest” place to start would be the Cold War and its long lasting effect.
Sides of the Cold War, blue represents those with the USA, red represents those with the USSR, grey is unaligned
To summarize, The Cold War lasted from March of 1947 all the way to December of 1991. It was not a war fought entirely on the battlefield; this was a war of espionage, diplomacy, and technology. Despite that much of the war was fought off of the battlefield, to say that the Cold War was a bloodless war is highly incorrect You were either with the Soviet Union or with the United States, and this divide led to many bloody conflicts like the Vietnam War, Korean War, the many coups funded or performed by either the CIA or the KGB. In order to keep this, for all intents and purposes, a popularity contest between the US and USSR going for 40 plus years there needs to be an incentive to come out on top. Said incentive was one driven by fear, a fear present on both sides of the conflict, a fear that the other evil, dangerous, horrible, and opposite side would win. That fear led to brash actions being taken against the so-called enemy. One of the best examples being the Red Scare in America, which reached its peak in the 40’s and 50’s with politicians like Joseph McCarthy
Anti-Communist Ad specifically targeted to the media and film industry
The Red Scare & McCarthy:
The Red Scare is a general term referring to a period of US general political discourse that is either defined by or there is an incredibly prevalent fear of communism or the “Reds.” There have been three Red Scares in our history; the First Red Scare was in the late 1910’s to early 1920’s, currently there is the ‘New Red Scare,’ but the most famous Scare was from 1947 to 1957. The cornerstone of the Second Red Scare were the policies and ideas of senator McCarthy, those ideas are known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism is characterized by a government persecution and suppression of left leaning individuals and concepts, specifically a fear tactic against communism in America. This was performed as a defense against alleged communist spies and espionage in the US government, but McCarthyism was not just a federal policy; the effects of the ideology were felt in all levels of American life. When you look at any media from this time period you’ll see aspects of the Scare; comics, television, books, movies, etc. you will notice something that is overtly anti-communist. But McCarthyism has had a much more wide reaching impact than just some mentions in the media, in fact the effects are still felt even today. It has been shown that the fear of communism in the 40’s and 50’s is why it has been so difficult for there to be any real progress on more socialist programs like free healthcare, cheaper/free college, or UBI, especially in the local sector of politics. Anything along those lines had a “communist tinge,” and that tinge was more than enough for people to not want it. But the effects of the Scare were not only isolated in the USA but rather they bleed out all across the world.
CIA Coups:
In our modern day the CIA has a certain reputation, among both citizens and other government agencies. Said reputation is not one of good feelings and adoration, but rather one of corruption, abuse of power, and undemocratic actions around the world. This is most apparent in the many, many coups that the CIA funded or was directly involved in throughout Latin America and the rest of the world. The basis of most, if not all, CIA funded/committed coups is that of fear and greed. From the late 1800’s to the 1970’s American corporations like the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita International Brands, owned large swaths of land in the Caribbean and Latin America. This land was mainly used for farming, specifically for farming bananas. At some point these companies became so rich that they started to gain more and more power in the government. This reached a point where these corporations were not only supporting the government with money but rather they were, for all intents and purposes, the government itself. At some point though leaders were elected that started to redistribute the land that these fruit companies own to the people. It was at this point that the United States began to take a keen interest in Latin America. To the U.S. the land distributions and other more left policies enacted by these newer presidents were leaning too close to communism, at least to the government. This led to a multitude of US backed coups in Latin America, it also set a precedent for further coups all across the world. Though we know a lot of information about these coups, there is still much that is closely kept under wraps. Historian Ervand Abhrihamian put it best in his paper about the 1953 Iranian Coup; “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a historian to gain access to the CIA archives on the 195 coup in Iran. These archives remain inaccessible even though half a century has passed, the Pahlavi ended, most participants have d actions, such as Guatemala, have been released.” As time has passed the government’s ways of acting on fear became less and less overt, covered by more and more layers of excuses and secrecy, what we know is only what has been leaked.
The USA PATRIOT Act & PRISM:
On the morning of the 11th of September, 2001 one of the greatest tragedies on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. 2,977 Americans lost their lives and a further 25,000 were injured. These attacks awakened a fear in the US government and the US general populace not felt since World War II and its aftermath. Only a month after the attacks the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, or as it is more commonly known the Patriot Act, was passed through the House and Congress with little to no opposition. In the span of just 3 days this over 100 page document went from just being introduced into the House to being enacted into US law.
President Bush Signing the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 into law
Many senators have admitted that they did not read through the entirety of the document, all they knew is that it would increase surveillance and perhaps that may stop another tragedy like 9/11 from happening on American soil. But to not fully read through a document that would greatly increase the eye that the government has on us is not only irresponsible but also a disservice to people's right to privacy. Titles II and IX of the document are one of the most important parts of the act; they completely amend the ways government agencies can surveille people. They make it easier to bypass the due process of the law and they give more access to different types of data. This law would allow programs like PRISM to exist. PRISM was a program run by the FBI and NSA; it allowed them to take any and all telephone metadata from inside the country. They obtained this information from corporations like Google, Apple, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and many others. All of this was not known by the public until 2013 when PRISM and many other highly classified programs and documents were leaked by then NSA contractor Edward Snowden. However PRISM was not the first surveillance program made after 9/11. There was one program that set the groundwork of all that came afterwards; the President's Surveillance Program or as it is better known, Stellar Wind.
Stellar Wind:
Directly after the September 11 attacks then president George W. Bush enacted his surveillance program under the codename of Stellar Wind. The way Stellar Wind operated was very similar to that of PRISM, though Stellar Wind was much less advanced and comprehensive. According to the director of the FBI Robert Mueller, 99% of what was discovered through Stellar Wind led to dead ends. Despite all of the failure that arose out of the program it was still supported and funded for 4 years, though there were some agencies like the FBI that wanted to distance themselves from the program after it was leaked in 2004. Most people, even at the time, realized that what they were doing was immoral and they tried to save face and excuse what they did. Mueller in his report on the program claimed that it was completely authorized and legal despite the fact that for most of its existence it was not known or allowed by the FISA courts, something made to regulate surveillance programs. Furthermore the only reason it was legal was because of the Patriot Act that was passed a few months before Stellar Wind was enacted. Stellar Wind was the first step the US took in a more and more watchful eye over her citizens, but it goes widely unknown, overshadowed by PRISM. However there is no denying the importance of Stellar Wind and the many programs and controversies that were offshoots of it.
Conclusions:
Fear is one of the most primal emotions we as humans can feel. Fear has allowed us to survive for hundreds of thousands of years in a cruel and unfeeling world, but when we reached the point when we no longer had to fear the outside world the only thing left to fear was the other humans around us, but in the modern day that fear has no real place, now it only leads to hate and destruction. That destruction may be overt and bloody but it may also be subtle. Fear destroys from the inside, it makes us fight amongst ourselves, it makes us not trust anyone else. Fear breeds hate and hate left uncontrolled will inevitably lead to suffering for all involved. And when those in power are afraid the effects of it will only be felt by more people in more extreme ways. One of the first steps in improving any society is to root out the fear between us all. When we as a society are no longer afraid of the other and those not like us then perhaps we could live in a more unified world or community. We must learn that perhaps those who we see as too different aren't truly that different afterall. Though not one of us is the same as another we are all human, and all we have now is each other.
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