The NSA, PRISM And My Shirts

I greatly enjoyed this piece about the whole NSA/leak story from my pal Frazer Rice's blog, which is called, not unreasonably, FrazerRice.com.

Perhaps what surprises me most about all this is how much I'm not surprised by NSA snooping. I feel that Google, Facebook, AT&T and my beloved Apple know all that stuff about me anyway (not to mention LinkedIn).

I guess I'm just not paranoid enough anymore - I feel I could have a Hunter S Thompson weekend in Vegas and no one would care.

I rather expect full valet service from the NSA now. A car with a driver would be nice - as long as it took me where I wanted to go, rather than a one-way trip to some undisclosed location.

I guess it's being white and British-born (privileged, as my wealthier-born Chinese-American wife is always pointing out) - I feel that I could still engage in some pretty nefarious activities, and the NSA/FBI/CIA wouldn't get hot under the collar (hopefully they'd be pressing mine, lightly starched).

I must have misplaced my sense of outrage somewhere. I still feel "free." I've done some pretty crazy stuff in my life and have avoided trouble with The Man (a little Walter White luck, perhaps). I've been outspoken politically and no one cares. I haven't tried to bomb anyone, but I don't want to.

I've always kind of felt that "they" were "watching" - and felt a huge sympathy for the degree of mind-numbing boredom that would induce. I'm going to have to move to a murderous dictatorship to revive my sense of persecution.

I don't mean to belittle those who live in truly horrific, information-gathering, "disappearing" of political opposition types, countries, but even the NSA/PRISM revelations haven't made my sense of freedom (such as it is) feel invaded.

I guess social media have so blunted any prospect of personal privacy that I have become Public Target #69666. My secrets are the nation's secrets. I'd be rather interested if they could make better use of them than me.

I yam what I yam.

(Below: new Facebook privacy settings)

Comments

The High Tower Apartments and The Long Goodbye

Photograph by Dwayne Moser. This beautiful apartment complex in Los Angeles is called the Hightower or High Tower Complex (the High Tower name refers to the central elevator, I believe), and was designed in 1935-1936 by architect Carl Kay - and made famous in 1973 by my favorite film, Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (see Why I Love Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye ). Although Altman used the building as Philip Marlowe's apartment in his somewhat post-modern Long Goodbye (the film plays with references to Old Hollywood and opens and closes with the song, Hooray For Hollywood ), the building has another direct connection to Raymond Chandler. It was apparently the inspiration for Chandler in his book, The High Window (the first Chandler novel I ever read), in which Chandler describes the residence of Philip Marlowe as being on the cliffs above High Tower Drive in a building with a fancy elevator tower. (Thanks to the Society of Architectural Historians Southern...

Andrew Hale and Sade

Sade in concert in San Jose. All concert photos Copyright © 2011 Alexander Chow-Stuart. On Thursday evening, we saw our longtime friend Andrew Hale perform with Sade at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, in one of the most beautifully conceived and produced concert performances I have ever seen. Sade is a rare musician, in that she and the band only write, record and tour every eight to ten years, so that in a very real sense you can measure your life by her. The band's music is always fresh and always newly conceived - for their previous album, Lovers Rock , they stripped everything down musically to a minimalist sound and banished the saxophone that had been so much a part of Sade's heavily soul- and jazz-influenced style. The latest album, Soldier of Love , released in 2010, is one of the most tender, moving collections of songs yet, from the astonishingly beautiful Morning Bird , which features exquisite keyboards from Andrew, to the soulful, retro, r...

Hyperbole And A Half - Why I'll Never Be An Adult

All images copyright 2010-2012 Allie and Hyperbole And A Half. These images are from one of my absolute favorite online comic strips/blogs/sites, Hyperbole And A Half by Allie . This particular post is called: This Is Why I'll Never Be An Adult - and these are just a few selected panes from a very funny and telling sequence: To check out the entire strip, go to this particular link for Hyperbole And A Half. You might also want to check out the Hyperbole And A Half Store , which has many goodies such as this wonderful Bird T-shirt . Other designs can be applied to whole variety of products, such as T-shirts, mugs and iPhone cases (please note that not all designs are available for every product). I love the Bird T-shirt because it makes me think of our much adored lovebird, Miso, who I'm certain spends a great deal of his life squawking these words in a language we can't comprehend because we're too stupid: Please visit Hyperbole And A ...

Alexander Stuart

Search This Blog