6/12/2013

A betrayal of trust


‘This lens makes you more likely to share the distinct strands of libertarianism that are blossoming in this fragmenting age: the deep suspicion of authority, the strong belief that hierarchies and organizations are suspect, the fervent devotion to transparency, the assumption that individual preference should be supreme….

Another is the rising tide of distrust, the corrosive spread of cynicism, the fraying of the social fabric and the rise of people who are so individualistic in the outlook that they have no real understanding of how to knit others together and look after the common good….For a society to function well, there have to be basic levels of trust and cooperation, a respect for institutions and deference to common procedures….

He betrayed honesty and integrity, the foundation of all cooperative activity. He made explicit and implicit oaths to respect the secrecy of the information with which he was entrusted. He betrayed his oaths. He betrayed his friends. He betrayed his employers. He betrayed the cause of open government.’

The above is an extract of an article by David Brooks in the New York Times and reprinted in the Today paper today. Brooks used this article to thrash Edward Snowden, the young CIA spy that exposed the dirty works of the US Administration for spying on its own citizens in a scale never seen before, an outright violation of individual rights to privacy in the name of good for country and people.

The assumptions of Brooks are that the US Govt is honest, clean and virtuous and doing the honourable and right thing. Is that so? Or is the US Govt violating everything there is in the Constitution, abusing its power and privileges, and betraying the people, betraying its citizens and a scum in all counts? When a govt indulges in dirty schemes and things against its citizens, it is the govt that is betraying the people. And other than an exposure like what Snowden did, there is really nothing much the common folks can do to a rogue govt.

What is the moral of the story? A govt needs to act in a way that earns respect and trust from its citizens. When a govt betrays its citizens, there is nothing that the people can do about it except unconstitutionally.

10 comments:

patriot said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
patriot said...

Whence one BETRAYS EVERYONE, there is only ONE TRAIT in the Person. And that is; he/she cannot bear to keep any secret for anyone, meaning the Person is ABSOLUTELY TRANSPARENT ABOUT EVERYTHING.

My salutes to such COMPLETELY HONEST FOLKS.

patriot

Anonymous said...

"A govt needs to act in a way that earns respect and trust from its citizens."
redbean

Correct.

So PAP must have earned the respect and trust of the majority 60% of voting citizens what.

Or else how could PAP have won their votes in an election, tio bo?

Of course it is not possible to earn 100% of their respect and trust lah. So 60% is very good already.

Anonymous said...

Maybe these majority voters do not have much respect and trust for the PAP.

But they have EVEN LESSER respect and trust for the opposition.

So it is a choice of the lesser of 2 evils.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

redbean:

>> A govt needs to act in a way that earns respect and trust from its citizens. When a govt betrays its citizens,

In your dreams. That will never happen. Power does, what power wants.

>> What is the moral of the story?

Numoreo Uno: Observe, bang into head the FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE of a FREE and INDEPENDENT press.

#2: EVERYONE needs to defend the constitution to the best of their ability. That has to become a culture.

The reason is simple: if it was the in the culture that every individual will defend the constitution, the moment the alarm is raised by one single individual, the rest of body politic will come to his aid. If it's not in the culture, the forget it.

>> people who are so individualistic in the outlook that they have no real understanding of how to knit others together and look after the common good

Haha. The typical Asian-mind misunderstanding of what it means to be "An Individual" which is probably the main reason why individualism is a rare quality in collectivist Asian cultures (including the writer quoted).

I know very well that redbean would probably score embarrassingly low on some arbitrary "individualism quotient" because he doesn't like individualism -- he likes putting people into collective groups -- like "race" or "foreigners" or "Americans" or "Chinese", and then make sweeping judgements about the whole group, denying any chance of individual thinking, being or the ability to make a choice.

Anyway, let this govt snooping story be a wakeup call to fuckers out there who still adopt a "tidak apa" attitude to computer, online and off line security.

The people who develop surveillance software are chasing big bucks, and who'd be a better, more lucrative long-term customer than a sovereign government?

Anonymous said...

I think it is not worth to go against such an authority especially when one is being paid well for that job and under an oath. There is no such thing as freedom. Everyone is a number in this slave society. What is the problem of losing some privacy if that means better security for everyone? Else, what other ways to fight psychopath terrorist? using 007?

Anonymous said...

"The assumptions of Brooks are that the US Govt is honest..."

- anyone who assume that the gov is bad will turn to crime one day. every thinking has a consequence.

Anonymous said...

Brooks sounds like the lapdog and running dog writers at sph.

Anonymous said...

Our former Chief Minister, Mr David Marshall, labelled the Straits Times as “either PAP wallahs or bootlickers” and local journalists as “pathetic" and "were only concerned about their own survival. They are running dogs of the PAP and poor prostitutes”.

bond said...

All the gov in this world is the same lah. They are just there to make us worse off and make themselves better off. The earlier people accept this fact, the sooner they will come to term with life here on earth. This world is full of bullshits.