I personally believe that most 'X-files' and black-ops ideas that a percentage of the US population has about our government are probably inaccurate and somewhat paranoid. I have grave doubts about our government's ability to gather information and then analyze it in such a way that decisions could then be made to hide and suppress said information. Does it happen? I'm sure it does. But IMO, certainly not at the massive scale that some people seem to think it does. And I tend to think that beliefs in a massive government conspiracy become self-perpetuating despite lack of evidence to the contrary out of an inherent American distrust of authority.
Dr. Brin spoke about this on Art Bell a couple of months ago. (isn't it wonderful when you find an on-topic thread in a post? *grin* ) It's his belief that a huge percentage of American scientists, who are trained in what one might call an 'open-source' environment, would be incapable of seeing our government's long-term reasons for the suppression of information about new discoveries and inventions. I would be willing to bet that you could convince your average physicist that disseminating information about say... a new power source alternative to fossil fuels might be harmful in the short-run, but not the long-run. It is in the nature of the scientific community to take an idea and build upon it. It was fun to watch him debate Art Bell on this subject. Bell's the king of conspiracy theories, which make his show both really enjoyable and incredibly creepy sometimes. :-) I know this is slightly off topic of what you posted, Jim, but here's what I'm getting at: I feel that if you take away the possibility that our government is trying to *manipulate* us, then you just might be left with them giving us all the information they have at their disposal they feel they can safely release without endangering intelligence sources. Didn't we see just this last week that when our government *doesn't* tell us what they know it usually backfires? Perhaps they feel the masses are ready to know there's something going on, and even they aren't quite sure what it is? Then again, did anyone else note that the alert, which could also be called a 'blatant reminder we're in a war' occurred when our President is under domestic pressure at home? Cue the creepy x-files music :) *grin* Jon [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- Of Jim Sharkey Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 11:44 AM Subject: Are we being sold on fear? The latest news on the terrorism, http://apnews.excite.com/article/20020519/D7JJRDJG0.html suggests that we once again could be under attack. Ever since 9/11 we have been bombarded with constant warnings about terrorism in the U.S. Now, this isn't necessarily intrinsically bad, full disclosure and all that, rather than being kept in the dark. But I wonder about it, sometimes. I've seen warnings about impending terror attacks almost weekly since 9/11. And there've been none from sources outside the U.S., which is where the reports generally point. Is it that our intelligence people have proven capable of stopping these attacks each time? I certainly hope that's the case, that this latest possible situation will be defeated, and no more innocent civilians need to die. But I wonder if someone just trying to keep us scared. Perhaps Al-Qaida and their ilk just figure they can keep the U.S. people shaking in their Levis by regularly threatening attacks and keeping that fear in the news? At the risk of sounding like Oliver Stone here, I am beginning to wonder what the purpose of these constant fear reminders is. We once had an administration that told us the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. Now we seem to have one that is telling us to be afraid all the time. It makes me wonder, is all. Jim
