I can't speak about how Americans feel in general about this program, but I can speak about how I personally feel. If I am to believe the words of the whistleblower who brought all this out to the public, I am scared_and_upset. On the other hand, if I am to believe the words of everyone else sitting on the other side of the fence, I should be OK. The problem is, whose words should you believe?
Edward Snowden is a 29 year old programmer who was part of the team which supposedly developed PRISM. So you would think he knows what he’s talking about. Therefore, unless we want to believe that the man is a paranoid schizophrenic, we should be worried. Indeed, we must.
That said, everyone else on the other side are either politicians (not exactly the most sincere and trustworthy bunch) and NSA agents (in my opinion, they rank the same as politicians when it comes to garnering public trust).
My personal conclusion is, I actually believe both.
But first, let’s analyze how we are set today.
Many apparently fail to realize that, just because jet fighters aren’t flying over our heads all the time and not all men have been drafted to go to Europe or the Pacific, it doesn’t mean we’re not at war. Our new found enemies aren’t always well identified states wherein we can drop bombs, flatten everything out, and be done with it. Our enemy is, more often than not, an idea. And one for which so many people are ready to die.
