Friday Night Video – America, the Land of the Watched

Glenn Greenwald is one of my favorite journalists, tackling issues that other media figures are afraid to touch, such as who exactly is being killed by U.S. drone strikes. In this interview by Alyona Minkovski, Greenwald contends that the question is not whether or not we in the United States live in a surveillance state — we do! — but what the extent of that government intrusiveness is. He reminds us of the National Security Agency collecting 1.7 billion email and telephone calls a day. (I would like to know, how have they earned our trust?)

GREENWALD: There really is virtually no communication that exists any longer between Americans electronically or telephonically that is beyond the reach of the NSA.

Since the end of the Cold War, there really seems to be dwindling concern for individual freedom (as opposed to corporate freedom). Greenwald makes the truly excellent point that our world is topsy-turvy. Government and those in power are supposed to be transparent because they are dealing with the collective good, while individuals receive privacy unless there is tangible evidence of criminal activity.