# Smapti is Pitted **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907 "2014-05-21T08:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/21 "2014-05-21T09:39:41Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > It is the beginning of any necessary social or political change. Not every social or political change is “necessary”, nor necessarily for the better of the people. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/22 "2014-05-21T09:41:46Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > In our defense, the vast majority of Americans think Smapti is an idiot. They might do _now_. But back in 2001 there were many, many **Smaptis** crawling out of the woodwork. We remember. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/23 "2014-05-21T09:47:41Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > They might do _now_. But back in 2001 there were many, many **Smaptis** crawling out of the woodwork. We remember. So do we but nevertheless… it took one of our guys to blow the whistle on them finally, even though countless other governments around the world were cooperating for many years. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/24 "2014-05-21T09:48:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Where does post #5 say anything about the CIA killing random people in the hopes that one of them is a bad guy? If sabotaging efforts to cure contagious diseases does not count, there’s always [bombing weddings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deh_Bala_wedding_party_airstrike), [bombing funerals](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/drone-attacks-at-funerals-of-people-killed-in-drone-strikes/280821/), [bombing journalists](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike), [bombing teenagers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki#Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki) and all those other war crimes that you claim would just disappear if we stopped being so impolite as to mention it when the people you carry water for murder civilians. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/25 "2014-05-21T09:49:25Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > So do we but nevertheless… it took one of our guys to blow the whistle on them finally, even though countless other governments around the world were cooperating for many years. You say “blow the whistle”. I say “sell out his country and run away to a far more oppressive illiberal state to live off the Kremlin’s largesse while they slowly gobble up Europe”. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/26 "2014-05-21T10:00:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You say “blow the whistle”. I say “sell out his country and run away to a far more oppressive illiberal state to live off the Kremlin’s largesse while they slowly gobble up Europe”. If only someone had the courage to expose the kremlin’s evil tactics to the world, maybe the Russian people would decide enough is enough. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/27 "2014-05-21T10:07:39Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > If only someone had the courage to expose the kremlin’s evil tactics to the world, maybe the Russian people would decide enough is enough. So we’re in agreement that the actual injustices committed by Russia are worse than the imaginary injustices committed by the CIA, then. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/28 "2014-05-21T10:14:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So we’re in agreement that the actual injustices committed by Russia are worse than the imaginary injustices committed by the CIA, then. The injustices committed by the CIA aren’t imaginary, your version of reality is. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/29 "2014-05-21T10:22:08Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > The injustices committed by the CIA aren’t imaginary Vaccinating people against polio is an injustice? Bringing Osama bin Laden to justice is an injustice? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/30 "2014-05-21T10:28:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Are we better off knowing about the CIA’s vaccination program than we were before? Yes; now we are able to shut down the CIA’s sabotage of the effort, and might manage to wipe out polio despite their attempt to keep it alive. > [@](#): > > If Lavabit had done its patriotic duty That’s precisely what it did do. > [@](#): > > I’m all for changing the rules if the rules are stopping us from protecting American life. > [@](#): > > **Homer:** Not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol must be working like a charm. > **Lisa:** That’s spacious reasoning, Dad. > **Homer:** Thank you, dear. > **Lisa:** By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away. > **Homer:** Oh, how does it work? > **Lisa:** It doesn’t work. > **Homer:** Uh-huh. > **Lisa:** It’s just a stupid rock. > **Homer:** Uh-huh. > **Lisa:** But I don’t see any tigers around, do you? > **Homer:** Lisa, I want to buy your rock. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/31 "2014-05-21T10:29:27Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > In short, he is a poor effigy of a human being, an invertebrate that somehow learned to mash a keyboard to create a crude semblance of human conversation, without once engaging in that practice he so despises: thought. A nice effort, but the classics are still the best: [QUOTE=Samuel Adams] If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/32 "2014-05-21T10:34:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You say “blow the whistle”. I say “sell out his country and run away to a far more oppressive illiberal state to live off the Kremlin’s largesse while they slowly gobble up Europe”. So, how does the connection from timeline-Smapti (where Snowden actually booked a trip to Russia) and timeline-reality (where Snowden got stuck in Russia as the result of the US Government’s actions) work? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/33 "2014-05-21T10:37:56Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Dude’s paranoia makes him get behind anything that looks like it might reduce threats to him (and him alone, others don’t matter anywhere near as much). For a good example, see this thread about organ donation where he starts off with a reasonable enough justification and ends up revealing his delusions: [Opt out organ donation and relatives' wishes - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=695406) :eek: :eek: Holy crap… ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/34 "2014-05-21T10:40:15Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Yes; now we are able to shut down the CIA’s sabotage of the effort, and might manage to wipe out polio despite their attempt to keep it alive. Do you suppose that the US government would have been funding those doctors and making it possible for them to vaccinate people if _not_ for the intelligence program? Unlikely. The CIA got people vaccinated who wouldn’t have been otherwise. That’s a net benefit to the entire world. > [@](#): > > That’s precisely what it did do. Facilitating terrorism and organized crime is patriotic now? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/35 "2014-05-21T10:41:52Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > So, how does the connection from timeline-Smapti (where Snowden actually booked a trip to Russia) and timeline-reality (where Snowden got stuck in Russia as the result of the US Government’s actions) work? Snowden chose to make a fugitive of himself, and he chose to accept the Czar’s shilling. A patriot would have long since walked over to the US embassy and surrendered - if he had ever fled the country in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/36 "2014-05-21T10:43:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Who said anything about wealth? I love _life_ more than I love liberty. I’d rather be alive and “licking the hands that feed me” than be dead and… nothing else, because then I wouldn’t exist anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/37 "2014-05-21T10:50:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So you agree with me that the people who exposed this program are accessories to mass murder, then. I am forming a mental image of life in Smaptistan… the armed forced decked out in their International Red Cross iconography, granting them immunity to enemy fire unless some traitor exposes the ruse… the tax-accounting offices where would-be clients are waterboarded until they reveal their _real_ income, shaving away at the deficit as long as security is maintained… the citizens studiously turning away from the sight of some malcontent complaining about his restaurant bill, insuring absolute domestic tranquility provided that no snot-nosed kid yells that the emperor is naked… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/38 "2014-05-21T10:51:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Facilitating terrorism and organized crime is patriotic now? Dere dere, da baaad tewwawist isn’t gonna steal your kidneys… ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/39 "2014-05-21T10:58:13Z")
So **Smapti** has absolutely no concept of the value of privacy. Okay, I can understand that. I don’t _agree_, but it’s at least not completely without merit to rob privacy to serve safety. At least in principle. In practice… Well, **Smapti** , I think you’re a threat to national security. To prove that you aren’t, please install a webcam in your living room, dining room, bedroom, and bathroom. Keep them on at all times. I’ll be reviewing the livestream to ensure that you aren’t doing anything suspicious. I’ll also be opening all your mail. …Sound like something you wouldn’t like? Huh. I thought you were totally okay with violating people’s privacy to prevent potential terrorism. :rolleyes: P.S. this: [QUOTE=you] I choose not to be an organ donor because I am concerned that, in an emergency situation, medical officials might not prioritize saving my life if I had consented in advance to having my organs harvested. Call me paranoid if you like. [/QUOTE] Still one of the craziest, dumbest things I’ve ever seen on this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/40 "2014-05-21T10:59:55Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > the citizens studiously turning away from the sight of some malcontent complaining about his restaurant bill You have clearly never had to explain the concept of sales tax to a customer who doesn’t understand why the menu says $6.99 and his bill is for $7.65. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907.md?page=3)