Slashdot Mirror
Mystery of FBI Documents Posted To US Press In 1971 Solved
AHuxley writes "A team of eight antiwar activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and removed at least 1000 documents. Once removed and sorted, the bulk of the files showed FBI spying on U.S. political groups. COINTELPRO had been found. 43 years later five of the participants have come forward."
Come on, tell us exactly how these terrorists destroyed America 40 years ago by telling Americans they were being spied on by America.
In the words of Martin Luther King, one of the targets of COINTELPRO, "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
Here I am, but I didn't bother signing in.
This is a useful reminder that government can be heavy handed. The group that did this made careful plans, took a big risk, and the results are still being talked about and referenced today. It contributed to reform. COINTELPRO is regularly referenced in Slashdot discussions, relevant or not.
Although COINTELPRO is remembered, few bother to remember the other side of the equation, which is the conduct of the radicals. There were those that went past legitimate protest, past civil disobedience, and turned to violence: bombs, arson, shooting. One famous example, the Weather Underground.
Weather Underground: William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire
Kent State tape indicates altercation and pistol fire preceded National Guard shootings (audio)
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
...we monitor *everyone*, so as not to incur the avoidable risk of missing anyone who may pose a social or political threat.
Some criminals claim to be irish, so we should unlawfully surveil, harass and frame all the irish people.
Some criminals claim to be leftists, so we should unlawfully surveil, harass and frame all the leftist people.
Some criminals claim to be anarchists and one guy can burn down the capitol building, so we should enact emergency laws to surveil, harass, frame, and imprison all the anarchists. ...
Difference? Nope. The rule of law and fundamental freedoms exist for a reason.
Now the FBI blatantly spies on everybody, including political groups, and nobody cares enough to stop them. The FBI doesn't even consider law enforcement their primary job any more. Now it's "national security".
It was not until years later that reporters identified the term (COINTELPRO) as referring to a secret program, carried out from 1966-71, to cultivate a culture of distrust in which dissidents feared not just the government, but also one another.
Seems like the hatred that a lot of Americans have for Americans is so extreme, it almost seems cultivated by way of plan. I'm not aware if Snowden has released any info pertaining to this. Does anyone else know?
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
And the summary willfully leaves out the reason they came forward. They came forward as a show of support for Snowden.
Weiner / Spitzer 2016!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
"Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?"
There was a interesting vignette from Fahrenheit 9/11 where a local police department "infiltrates" an anti-war group (composed of middle-aged and older activists not engaged in anything illegal except objecting to the Iraq invasion) and the undercover agent actually gets himself elected leader.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
cheers...ank
Still hoping for Gentle Treatment...
They came forward as a show of support for Snowden.
That appears to be false, unless you can point to something more direct.
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows
Mr. Forsyth, now 63, and other members of the group can no longer be prosecuted for what happened that night, and they agreed to be interviewed before the release this week of a book written by one of the first journalists to receive the stolen documents. The author, Betty Medsger, a former reporter for The Washington Post, spent years sifting through the F.B.I.’s voluminous case file on the episode and persuaded five of the eight men and women who participated in the break-in to end their silence.
The article and video discuss similarities, but I don't believe that either attributes the motivation as support for Snowden. It appears to be directly tied to the book coming out.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
> They weren't terrorists engaged in violence, and they didn't destroy America.
So much is clear. Handy red herring you went after, huh?
The question is rather: did they do a service to America by disclosing (later deemed) illegal activities by its executive arm, or did they not?
Who's the bad one in this story: FBI or the activists? (hint: the Weather Underground isn't the answer: we agree on this one).
Hmmm. Tough question.
"Among the grim litany of revelations was a blackmail letter F.B.I. agents had sent anonymously to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he did not commit suicide."
From the NY Times Article
The corollary to the "you shouldn't worry if you don't have anything to hide" argument apparently is "you'd better not ever have anything to hide or the government will use it against you".
Amerika makes China and Russia proud. I only wish I were not communist brainwashed by the likes of Reagan and other American administrations. Now you folks are just as hoodwinked over terrorist. Lies and deception for power and control. It all really means sadly self government experiment is a failure.
What you describe is almost the polar opposite of what Snowden actually did.
So, let's try to bring the shill back on topic. We aren't talking about the Weather Underground. I don't think that there has ever been any outrage over the FBI monitoring them.
The better example is MLK, who clearly represented a non-violent shake up of our system. By diverting resources to focus on MLK, they endangered the whole country. These enforcers aren't here to protect us or our constitution - they only exist to protect the system. And they'll still be protecting the system as we descend into the tyranny that they have lined up for us.
So CF, do you shill for them because they have dirt on you or are you just a nihilist who wants to watch America crumble under the iron heel?
The overseas operations that Snowden released are quite unnerving as well.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
don't have to bother with that anymore. we can safely ship them off in the night to Guantanamo or wherever and imprison them indefinitely without charge, at the president's discretion.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
I see no evidence that this is the case, and it directly contradicts the articles about this story.
I think the corollary involves negating the consequences: If you are hiding something, you should worry the government will use it against you.
What people mean when they say "if you've got nothing to hide ..." is 'only criminals want privacy'. This is more insidious than 'national security' and 'think of the children' because it uses the 'tough on crime' meme to strip citizens of many rights in one brief splurge of self-righteous judgement.
"99% of black voters voted for Obama."
The GOP is the Dixiecrat Party and except for a few chumps/Uncle Toms (the term has a specific meaning) Blacks, even the slowest, get that Republicans basically "hate their fucking guts".
There is no Big Tent GOP.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
If he has a time-machine to alter birth announcements, then he has the ability to stop 1971 breaches.
Table-ized A.I.
The corollary to the "you shouldn't worry if you don't have anything to hide" argument apparently is "you'd better not ever have anything to hide or the government will use it against you".
"And if you do not, the government will make something up for you."