Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Helping Too Late
The inability of state and federal agencies to act is highlighted in "the Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. They agreed that the guy's position was just, but they couldn't help him, either it was out of their jurisdiction or not worth their time. At least they believe this. Sometimes part of the solution would fall under one agency but they don't believe they have the power to act. The early members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced a similar issue when trying to gain redress for religious persecution. "When approached by Joseph Smith in 1839 seeking financial redress for the injustices suffered by the Saints in Missouri, President Martin Van Buren replied, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Documentary History of the Church, 4:80" (obtained from lds.org). Yet years later the president makes a decision to free the slaves, something not backed by the constitution, though equally right and unpopular. We are so focused on not being the one to set a precedent for extending power to the government, that we will sometimes let injustices go on for years.
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It is scary to think how much computer hacking went unpunished, from Cliff's descriptions, because it was not seen as a crime, or was not considered a large enough threat. Cliff could not walk out of a high security building with a stamped piece of paper without alerting the guards, yet the FBI was slow to react to a hacker invading military computers.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a paper once about President Van Buren's response. I don't remember the logic, but I seem to remember learning reasons why he legally wasn't able to help the Church (p.s. you didn't capitalize 'church'). When combined with his decision to free the slaves, you learn a lesson to not let peer pressure affect your decisions.
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