Why Does Rep. Mike Rogers Always Mock The Internet And Its Users?
from the do-you-not-care-about-the-public? dept
Rep. Mike Rogers, who has long been a strong supporter of stomping on your privacy in the name of supporting his friends (and family) who are a part of the intelligence-industrial complex, seems to have a real hatred for the internet and the people who express their opinion via the internet. No wonder he was the lead sponsor of CISPA and wanted the ability to undermine the privacy promises of internet companies. Back when the CISPA debate was happening, and there was widespread grassroots opposition, Rogers dismissed it all, claiming that it was just "14-year-olds in their basement clicking around on the internet.So it should come as little surprise that when he stood up on the House floor yesterday to defend the NSA's mass collection of Americans' private information, he once again mocked the internet and its users. You can watch Rogers' impassioned speech here, which is almost entirely made up of misleading rhetoric in defense of the program, and concludes with this obnoxious sendoff:
Are we so small that we can only look at our Facebook likes today in this Chamber? Or are we going to stand up and find out how many lives we can save?Note the implication: those supporting the Amash Amendment are those awful basement-dweller "internet" types who are tweeting and Facebooking their support -- and those people don't matter. Sorry, Rep. Rogers, but those people are the American public whose interests you're supposed to be representing. Not the interests of your wife's career opportunities, or the interests of your friends in law enforcement.
Amusingly, while he conflates "this program" with "others" when talking about how important it is, earlier in the speech he goes in the other direction, focusing very narrowly on "this program." In the opening he insists that, under this program, the NSA collects "no emails, no phone calls, no names, and no addresses." Right. This program, the Section 215 "business records" collection of bulk metadata, does not include that info. But the NSA is collecting much of that info through other programs. Or, you know, through publicly available databases. We've seen many people argue that "this program" doesn't include things like names attached to phone numbers, but does anyone actually think that the NSA isn't able to do a reverse lookup to match a phone number to a name? Meanwhile, it's well known that the feds absolutely can get emails and phone calls if necessary. So, to say that because those things aren't obtained under this program, it means this program is fine, is silly -- because it's not difficult to get from this program to those others.
He also exaggerates how many people have said this program is legal. Especially when it comes to Congressional oversight. As this very debate showed, many in Congress were misled into believing this program was entirely different. Furthermore, when he claims that the various Intelligence Committees in the House and the Senate "approved" of this program, claiming they "came together" and supported the program, he implies that it was universal approval, but as we've seen from Senators Wyden and Udall that's hardly the case. And I won't even get into ridiculous fear mongering mentions of 9/11 and how without this program we're back to 9/10. That's just wrong.
Perhaps if Rep. Rogers actually went out and spoke to the American public, rather than insulting them, he might learn that his job is to represent them, and not the intelligence community and the big defense contractors. This isn't about getting Facebook likes. This is about the American public.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: congress, facebook likes, mike rogers, nsa, nsa surveillance, public
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Rogers' Speech: The Condensed Version
"Ladies and gentlemen,Disparagement. Innuendo. Fear mongerment. Innuendo. Misdirection. Plug written by industry shill. Bald-faced lie. Disparagement. Ad hominum attack.
Thank you."
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
There is a reason why the public is outraged over this program and many others suspected to be like it. I promise come voting time there will be a day of reckoning for those I get to vote for over this matter. They can lie, paint the hog's ear to be like something else but this is not going to blow over.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I propose...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Under siege?
If I were a terrorist, I'd be quite pleased with myself for the fear and paranoia I have sewn amongst the citizens and government of the United State of America. Take a look at the state of our DoJ and congress. The terrorists have exactly what they want, people startled by shadows and whispers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
He must read Techdirt!
Obvious to all but Mike, his fanboy-trolls and minions.
Take a loopy tour of Techdirt.com! You always end up same place!
http://techdirt.com/
Mutual Admiration Society posts every Sunday! Awards for Most Vulgar ad hom! Any fool can win!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rogers' Speech: The Condensed Version
Disparagement. Innuendo. Fear mongerment. Innuendo. Misdirection. Plug written by industry shill. Bald-faced lie. Disparagement. Ad hominum attack.
Thank you."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Everything said on the floor is bullshit
But Jon Stewart's response to this was to note that bullshitting-off-the-top-of-your-head is now a mainstay practice in congressional debate. One starts with the premise those who oppose my position are baby-eaters and then works it a bit and tries to throw-in key words from the topic at hand until it sounds plausible.
What we need is a WATSON type computer on the floor that fact-checks every statement and buzzes and flashes obnoxiously whenever someone tries to pass a falsehood as cited fact.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The terrorist won
Yet the biggest supporters of the police state insist that "9/11" changed everything. That the only way to be free is give up being free.
The "terrorist" have won. Because of the actions of 9/11 and the unsuccessful attempts since then, we live in a less free country. It doesn't matter that the "terrorist" are not in control. It only matters that we are less free.
Their (the terrorist) "Mission is Accomplished"
-CF
[ link to this | view in thread ]
re post #1
No, there really won't - that's the sad thing. The system does not allow you, or anyone else, to cast a vote which will make an actual difference.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: re post #1
New feature request, Mike?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ashamed
[ link to this | view in thread ]
in 4 years those 14 year olds are gonna remember who screwed'em over for some kickbacks
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The only thing he goes for is a + for business and a - for the public. There should be a dedicated internet campaign to Primary the shit out of this guy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: He must read Techdirt!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
What they don't understand yet is how to control it, and without that sort of control they have to attempt to minimize it's effectiveness as much as possible.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: He must read Techdirt!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: He must read Techdirt!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
You write pretty well for a subterranean 14 year old
[ link to this | view in thread ]