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SNOWDEN, CATCH-22, AND THE DEHUMANIZATION OF OUR NATION

6/10/2013

 
When I saw the name of the brave man who released the truth about the US government's search of our communications without a warrant I was struck by the connection to Joseph Heller's classic book Catch-22.  The 1961 novel is about the insanity and absurdity of war and the men who run the bureaucracy that keeps it going.  The term 'Catch-22' has filtered into our language to mean being trapped in a situation from which there is no escape, even when we see the damage it's doing to us. 

Edward Snowden is the ex-CIA defense contractor working for Booz Allen who blew the whistle on the extent of data collection by the government.  He is now seeking asylum outside of the US in an attempt to avoid life imprisonment for the release of government secrets.  The absurdity of this is fully apparent: he will go to prison for releasing the secret documents showing that our government is secretly obtaining and reviewing our secret documents and communications.  This is a Catch-22 situation.

There is a character in the novel Catch-22 named Snowden.  Snowden dies near the end of the book and symbolizes the descent of man to the condition of animals who live and die without reason.  The basis of Catch-22 is that the war is crazy and you can only be discharged from it if you are medically discharged as being 'crazy.'  But the catch, Catch-22, is that if you try to get a discharge for being crazy you must be sane, because only a sane man would try to get out of the war. Therefore you cannot be released from duty. Do you see the parallels to the present day Snowden and our national ideal versus our nation's reality? 

We have been forced into a condition where, as Senator Lindsey Graham said the other day, anyone who objects to losing their privacy rights must be guilty of a criminal act against the government, because if they were not guilty they would not object.  Catch-22. 

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower, has put the United States government in a position where it must acknowledge that our security is not secure, and it is not there to keep you safe.  The purpose of national security is to spy on you.  If you object to this violation of your constitutional rights you are a suspect.  Will we allow the United States governance machine to sacrifice Snowden to its dehumanizing, technological system?  Will this Snowden, like the Snowden in the novel, be killed as a symbol of the collapse of humanity?

CATCH-22 is AGENDA 21

mujer de pescador
6/10/2013 11:28:30 pm

thank you for publishing a post about Edward Snowden. as a local activist I can understand some of what he is going through and this is the first person, EVER that I am "praying for". I hope he doesn't end up like the character in ths book.

we need to change our way of communication. we need to go back to the "old school" ways of sticking together, word of mouth, small groups passing information to other small groups. we need to educate ourselves in how we can assemble without being eavsdropped on because when we're being spied on we lose the war. I think the line has been drawn now.

Lynda Hill link
7/3/2013 08:53:51 pm

This is weird. I had picked up on Catch-22 yesterday. The thing with Snowden in Catch-22 (I read the book so many times in my teen years that it is etched on my memory) is that he kept saying he is cold, cold, cold. Snowden is out in the cold. Further, Yossarian pulls away his shirt to see that his intestines were spilling out. Snowden is 'spilling his guts'... Snowden is in a plane, dying in a plane, alone (just with Yossarian who doesn't know how to help), and out in the cold. He has spilled his guts and died for a cause that no one understands. He is on a plane, but so many in Catch-22 were never on the planes they said they were on - they said they were flying that mission for the sake of being on the manifest... it is all too amazing stuff. Then, a friend on Facebook posts your post. Life is like that, especially lately.


Comments are closed.

    And the winner is...

    What is UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development?
    It is the blueprint, the comprehensive plan of action for the 21st century to inventory and control all land, all water, all plants, all minerals, all animals, all construction, all means of production, all energy, all law enforcement, all health care, all food, all education, all information, and all human beings in the world
    .

    Your energy consumption will be controlled until you can't farm, can't manufacture, can't travel, can't fish, can't use your land. Productivity and businesses are limited now.

    You've heard that story about Tony Blair asking Angela Merkel how Germany could have such a high GDP when it was such a small country.  Merkel snapped at him: We still make things in Germany, Mr. Blair.

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