@doctorow the link doesnât work
Thanks!
Thereâs your warning sign right there: he kept a copy of the Constitution on his desk. That document is the enemy of the NSA. A trustworthy NSA employee should instead have a copy of The Prince to help them further their Machiavellian aims.
Living in a country with an unwritten constitution, I once amused myself by putting a copy of Sun Tzuâs Art of War on my shelf after I found my manager was borrowing my books.
If this isnât bullshit or if itâs bullshit with legs then you have enough character development right there to sell the first 1/3-1/2 of a 90 minute movie with two âa-listâ leads and some veteran male or female lead (think Redford, but could go Costner). 60-million (±15-25 in product placement from Dell and Microsoft). Spoiler: He ends up in Brazil with his Hawaiian dancer-girlfriend who is nowâŠwait for it⊠pregnant!
p.s. If the testing looks good we could lead to a sequel with the girlfriend/wife being a double agent or assassins with orders to get all his data and kill him.
Is the baby encrypted?
They made him a Sharepoint admin? No wonder Snowden called them on their BS.
I like the hubris involved looking at this guy and saying âHe wonât do anything, heâs obviously enjoying the perks of his employment!â
If the NSA couldnât even figure out that Snowden was a threat to their livelihood, then how do we expect them to be able to figure out the intentions of people who actually are trying to misrepresent their actions and beliefs?
In the sequel the babyâs DNA unlocks the Vault of Genghis Khan or Machiavelli (it depends on what art we get back from the game designers at Ubisoft). Even though the dancer girlfriend is a Templar killer sheâs also a scion of Ezio Auditore. Snowden, we find out, was descended from Assassins but his family hadnât been involved in hundreds of years. Only the Templar knew of both their lineage(s) and their offspring would be the Kwisatz Haderach of Assassinâs (thatâs right, weâre talking franchise! Like Spy Kids if they had a decent video game presence and viral marketing strategy).
Have you read the prince? Itâs a really good book not deserving of its reputation. Itâs far less âMachiavellianâ than 48 laws of power and has more engaging less contradictory more practical advice, insight, and historical anecdotes.
Of course, some of its insight may not sit well with people. It advises leaders to maintain only the illusion of faith. Rather consistent with the actions and behaviors of those in power which led to Marx seeing religion as âthe opiate of the masses.â
Itâs still surprisingly relevant - even chapters about hiring mercenary armies are applicable to hiring a contractor workforce today.
Dude is a badass! The fact Time chose some religious guy as the person of the year is testimony to their irrelevance and US government dick-slurping.
Want to high-five Snowden so much!
fund it.
Apparently being less-than-awful in a long line of irrelevant Pontiffs is more noteworthy than striking a pioneering blow for Constitutional rights and defense of privacy.
I agree with you. Iâm not a scholar on the subject but I think The Prince is a remarkable work of philosophy which has more depth and nuance than what most people think of when they use the word âMachiavellianâ.
Yes, I was rather surprised with the work once I read it, given its reputation. Weâd better hunt down those scholars to see if they have anything better.
Artful commenting - 9 likes. Youâre better at this than I.
Indeed. The underlying assumption made by almost all the NSA defenders is that they are actually competent, which in fact we have seen little evidence of that.
What a cool guy! And what a standard he has set for the rest of us!
She gets shot by a long gun during a car chase in the sequel.
