Comments on: [links] Link salad bestirs itself http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/22/links-link-salad-bestirs-itself/ Jay Lake's Official Web Site Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:58:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jay http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/22/links-link-salad-bestirs-itself/comment-page-1/#comment-6357 Jay Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:58:46 +0000 http://www.jlake.com/?p=9734#comment-6357 I don't blame the investigation or lack thereof on the conservative movement. I do blame the widespread use of coercion and torture as an explicit instrument of policy on the conservative movement. Prior conservative leaders, including Ronald Reagan and Bush 43 early in his first term, have stood against torture as anti-American. We wouldn't be having this issue in the first place if it weren't for them. I don’t blame the investigation or lack thereof on the conservative movement. I do blame the widespread use of coercion and torture as an explicit instrument of policy on the conservative movement. Prior conservative leaders, including Ronald Reagan and Bush 43 early in his first term, have stood against torture as anti-American. We wouldn’t be having this issue in the first place if it weren’t for them.

]]> By: Jaws http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/22/links-link-salad-bestirs-itself/comment-page-1/#comment-6356 Jaws Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:31:27 +0000 http://www.jlake.com/?p=9734#comment-6356 The ex-CIA directors' caution isn't about ideology; it's about institutionalized paranoia that cuts across all ideologies. We could have polled "ex-KGB" or "ex-Stasi" directors and reached the same result. (And contrary to popular belief, the rank-and-file at intelligence agencies is <b>not</b> markedly different from the general population's politics... or perceptiveness. But that's another story for another time.) What you've got here is a bunch of people who have personal knowledge of horrible examples in which revelation of a seemingly harmless bit of information led to someone getting killed, as confirmed by later (highly classified) inquiries. Of course, that personal knowledge itself is deeply, deeply buried under layers of conscious concern for security and nondisclosure agreements that will expire only <b>after</b> the heat-death of the universe (no, I'm not joking about that last). To slightly warp Clarke's Third Law: <i>Any sufficiently detailed knowledge of intelligence gathering methods and operations is indistinguishable from clinical paranoia.</i> So, this time anyway, I have to disagree with blaming this one on the conservative movement. It's not as though the conservative movement doesn't have a lot else to answer for! The ex-CIA directors’ caution isn’t about ideology; it’s about institutionalized paranoia that cuts across all ideologies. We could have polled “ex-KGB” or “ex-Stasi” directors and reached the same result. (And contrary to popular belief, the rank-and-file at intelligence agencies is not markedly different from the general population’s politics… or perceptiveness. But that’s another story for another time.)

What you’ve got here is a bunch of people who have personal knowledge of horrible examples in which revelation of a seemingly harmless bit of information led to someone getting killed, as confirmed by later (highly classified) inquiries. Of course, that personal knowledge itself is deeply, deeply buried under layers of conscious concern for security and nondisclosure agreements that will expire only after the heat-death of the universe (no, I’m not joking about that last). To slightly warp Clarke’s Third Law:

Any sufficiently detailed knowledge of intelligence gathering methods and operations is indistinguishable from clinical paranoia.

So, this time anyway, I have to disagree with blaming this one on the conservative movement. It’s not as though the conservative movement doesn’t have a lot else to answer for!

]]> By: Steve Buchheit http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/22/links-link-salad-bestirs-itself/comment-page-1/#comment-6353 Steve Buchheit Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:01:14 +0000 http://www.jlake.com/?p=9734#comment-6353 Conservative are also against "Gotcha Journalism." You know, until you can get footage of Acorn people being idiots. And then you play it far and wide and tag it as "refreshing journalistic look at truth." Conservative are also against “Gotcha Journalism.” You know, until you can get footage of Acorn people being idiots. And then you play it far and wide and tag it as “refreshing journalistic look at truth.”

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