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Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

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Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#341

Post by mercurial »

happyscrappy wrote: post #137
Someone1234 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring the republic/democratic state distinction, the US's democratic status has always been weak due to FPTP (ditto with the UK). It is essentially a system designed to keep the majority from even running and to keep the minority opinion silent. If the US (or UK) cared at all about democracy like they always claim they'd move to something better (e.g. Open list, party list, full on proportional representation, or…

The National Front will be part of the government in France. Is that what we should strive for?

> The National Front will be part of the government in France. Is that what we should strive for?

[Citation needed]. Sure, they have about 25% of the public now, but the next presidential elections are not before 2017, and two years is a long time in politics.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#342

Post by dreamdu5t »

This is pathetic and selfish. Regardless of how you feel about Snowden (or anything) it is not okay to vandalize a memorial or any work of public art. Go put up your own statue but it is extremely selfish and unempathetic to forcefully co-opt an existing piece as a venue for your own. I'm disheartened by the widespread support for this using Snowdens actions as justification. What was put there is irrelevant to the fact that it is wrong and selfish to coopt a memorial to spread whatever message. How sad.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#343

Post by tajen »

karmacondon wrote: post #213
tessierashpool wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snowden's a hero and deserves his place on that memorial. This whole deal with the people putting up a statue of a hero and the government tearing it down? Not what America's supposed to be about. Combine that with the fact that most of the senators who voted for the Patriot Act probably read 1984, and didn't object to the obvious propaganda in the name Patriot Act? Not what America's supposed to be about either.

If you think that Snowden is a hero, start a petition to put up a statue of him in Fort Greene Park. The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument wasn't just put there by some guy on a whim. It was a decision made by government at all levels as the result of a process that is public and open to all citizens. Is Snowden a hero? Maybe, I dunno. Ask your fellow citizens if they want to put a statue of him in the park. That's how de…

You're negelecting the power of status quo. If the People care enough to put up a statue, the mayor could try an experiment: He could say "the statue should be removed" and not do anything about it. Then we'll see whether other civilians care enough to organize its removal within one year. If yes, then the law was respected and the People want the statue removed.

If no, then we could honestly say that there are not enough people who care enough about the Prison Ship Martyrs compared to the memory of Snowden.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#344

Post by shiggerino »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #179
ics wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said in another response: it's a political statement made with public art. As far as Parks and Rec is concerned, it's big heavy piece of vandalism, the integrity of which they know nothing about. To put this in a programmer's perspective: imagine if artists wanting to make political statements suddenly started littering your linux kernel with binary blobs which caused your boot screen to flash an image of Snowde…

Depending on what you mean by "otherwise trusted", I would either not care or freak out worrying that I got something other than the Snowden blob. Just displaying an image would be easy to verify with a disassembler. And it's misleading to use 'binary blob' as an analogy to a simple statue. Most binary blobs are effectively impossible to examine fully.

Any repository worth trusting would have exactly zero binary blobs, and a strong policy to ensure this. If you get your kernels from blob peddlers, displaying an image seems a lot more benign than something like iwlwifi. Disabling the former won't impact your work, the latter holds a part of your hardware hostage.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#345

Post by tajen »

Lerc wrote: post #184
borgia wrote: post #3

It has already been covered over with tarp and the letting removed[1]. It's a wonderful piece of work with excellent sentiment behind it. Unfortunately it doesn't suit the government and mainstream media narrative, so I'm sure the act of its erection will be decried as liberal terrorism and vandalism, the piece taken down and Snowden-related news once again brushed over. [1] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brookl…

Their point about the image of the bust remains. The fact that they covered the bust with a tarp itself creates an image with a message. Consider the mentality of obscuring the bust with something that is even uglier. It is not a statement on the aesthetics of the work. It is literally saying "You may not look upon this unsanctioned idea"

Correct! For me a better political statement would have been to wait for the People to remove the statue. I want to know whether enough people who care about the memory of the Prison Ship Martyrs to organize the removal compared to the memory of Snowden. If someone removes it, it's a strong political statement that the People want this. If no one removes it, then the People has chosen new heroes.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#346

Post by thesz »

dragontamer wrote: post #333
anonbanker wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-usa-security-ho... China had an extremely important role with Snowden. They didn't care about the "passport", they were buying time looking for some other country to take him in. I guess Russia took him in after that (Snowden didn't want to go to Russia. So I doubt that Snowden is a Russian spy... but if he knew what was good for him, he probably was forced to give some of…

China does not have extradition treaty with US. There couldn't be any extradition embarrassment then.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#347

Post by _cipher_ »

dragontamer wrote: post #200
tessierashpool wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snowden's a hero and deserves his place on that memorial. This whole deal with the people putting up a statue of a hero and the government tearing it down? Not what America's supposed to be about. Combine that with the fact that most of the senators who voted for the Patriot Act probably read 1984, and didn't object to the obvious propaganda in the name Patriot Act? Not what America's supposed to be about either.

Snowden is a traitor who happened to bring up an important debate. Probably sold US secrets to China and Russia, while releasing public information so that he can have public support while doing so. He's one of the most successful double-agents in history, with excellent public relations. If a double-agent were to happen again in the future, they'll do what they can to study how Snowden handled his case. No, I don't…

> Truth hurts, doesn't it?

Except when it's not truth but a random rant.

You say:

> If you want to discuss the collections programs, lets start with how you expect police to actually deal with modern criminals (ie: Swatters) if they didn't have the ability to track the location of their phone calls.

Notice "THEIR phone calls", not "EVERY phone calls".

Truth is, views like yours are clueless and/or dangerous and fail to see the big picture.

I'm sure you embrace the "I've got nothing to hide, so I don't care" stance. So yeah, fk the rest of the people, don't give a sh*t.

Educate yourself.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#348

Post by dang »

brenschluss wrote: post #319
ics wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not inventing them; it is their (Parks and Rec) responsibility to handle contingencies that could cause them or their users trouble. You don't know what chance it [the sculpture causing harm] is because you know absolutely nothing about it except what the article has told you. But they're responsible for it and what it does under "normal conditions". The tornado example is funny because though it would probably…

People like you are why NYC is dying. I mean, my god, imagine the dangers inherent in public art! Those venemous subway buskers! The risk inherent in street performances! DIY music venues! Why don't we have all the boring squares move into a city and just smother it with uninventiveness masked as safety concerns? I bet you didn't like the phreaking scene, either, because it went against someone's risk assessment, too…

> People like you are why NYC is dying.

Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#349

Post by maqr »

jshap70 wrote: post #239
Lawtonfogle wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Middle ground does not always exist. For example, take the plans to set up decentralized networks outside of the government's control. There have been discussions on how to allow the government to still be able to fight certain forms of illegal data exchange (terrorism and child abuse) while banning it from being at all involved in the others (drugs). But there is no middle ground solution. Any network that comprises…

>Middle ground does not always exist I think looking at issues with this lens is how the whole idea of "you're either with us or against us" gets started. It's possible to be less opinionated than that. I think everyone should take a step back and actually analyze the situation for what it is, rather than immediately grabbing the pitch fork.

> >Middle ground does not always exist

He doesn't mean ideologically, he means technically. You're either encrypted or you're not.

This isn't about being opinionated, it truly is about whether or not we allow the government to monitor all the things.

The only options are all or none, there is no "just monitor some of the things" option.

Re: Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn

#350

Post by CalRobert »

CalRobert wrote: post #113
jessaustin wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we could just start spraypainting Snowden's face in and around potholes? If it worked, the general public would know Snowden only as the pothole-fixing guy. No jury would ever convict! b^)

Actually, an approaching not entirely unlike that has been tried successfully in Russia. http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/09/embarrassing-pothole-c...

Ugg. "approach". Nothing like seeing your typos the following day.
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