On: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to...

[SoftwareMaven]

Unfortunately, fear of the "bad guys" out-weighs his fears of the government, and I suspect that is likely to be the case for most people.

After all, they have nothing to hide...

[Joakal → SoftwareMaven]

Bad guys never get into the government?

Seems like he believes in Us vs Them mentality: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/False_dilemma

[cookiecaper → SoftwareMaven]

I've found that most baby boomers have this mentality. They trust the government to do the right thing.

[joelhaasnoot → cookiecaper]

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, oh yes, the government always does the right thing...

[Glide → joelhaasnoot]

As korean american, I would love if you would qualify your statement about Korea.

[jbm → Glide]

Although none of us are enamored with North Korea, there was a fair share of atrocities that were committed by UN forces on the NK population and the South Korean government against communist sympathizers in their own country. The Wiki article goes into it in some detail. (No, it doesn't make it OK because "they were doing it".)

(As an aside, I sometimes bitterly contemplate how many great Korean minds were lost in that war because of their personal politics)

[joelhaasnoot → Glide]

War is still war, there were deaths, veterans who weren't the same, etc etc. I'm a child of the 80s, so I can't say I remember the details, but war isn't always a pretty thing. Going by what Wikipedia says (yes, I know it's a single source), the US wasn't exactly smart about how it was handled leading up to the Korean war.

[nir → joelhaasnoot]

Indeed, baby boomers have been famous for trusting the government. Especially on Vietnam.

[mseebach → nir]

Baby boomers were anti-establishment, right up until they became the establishment. That's where the "neo" in neocon comes from.

[nir → mseebach]

Baby boomers actually have little to do with Neocon ideology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism#History_and_ori...