Complacency is the Biggest Reason that the US Surveillance Air Force isn’t Big News

Over a quick lunch discussion, the topic of the US government’s recently revealed practice of having a secret air force that spies on Americans came up. There was no doubt about the outrage, no question about whether there was any valid reason for it, and there were surprisingly no voices claiming the old copout position of “if you aren’t doing anything wrong you shouldn’t be concerned.”

It’s bad. Everyone agreed. Where the differences came into perspective was the discussion about why nobody seems too concerned. The media is barely covering it despite the fact that it’s a great story. There was discussion that it’s the media control by a shadow government, police state, illuminati, new world order, or whatever you want to call it today that caused a media blackout, but then someone pointed out that in instances where the media is hushed, bloggers and social media whistleblowers always come in and trumpet the cause. That isn’t happening.

I wish I could say that I was the one who came up with the sad truth, but it was my right-wing friend who proposed a very simple explanation. We’re complacent. Three years ago, the American people would be outraged to learn that for the last decade, a secret “small air force” of surveillance planes have been flying through domestic airspace with cameras, listening devices, and cell phone tapping technology that is as big of an example of Orwellian nightmares as there have been, ever. This is utterly inexcusable. The Bush/Obama administration (yes, singular) are quietly taking away our privacy and freedoms…

…and nobody cares anymore.

The Atlantic has a nice, albeit small piece on the subject. They ended by condemning the right people, but they didn’t make the most important condemnation on the subject:

Shame on the FBI for not informing the public and the full Congress about this program. And shame on legislators for being so clueless about surveillance flights run for years by a law-enforcement agency which they are responsible for overseeing. The fact that questions about legal authorities and privacy are just now being raised is yet another indication that legislators have been derelict in their duties.

That’s fine and I totally agree with the statements the author made, but there was one thing he forgot to mention: Shame on the American people for allowing the government to take away our desire to care, our instinct to speak out, and our will to fight. The government was only able to do this to us because we allowed it.

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