The One Sentence Observation — that Synopsizes Government, Politics, and the Human Condition

© 2013 Peter Free

 

01 September 2013

 

 

Mediocrity is good for us, right?

 

Consider this observation, regarding National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who allegedly assumed the electronic identity of high ranking officials, so as to obtain uncover aspects of the American police state:

 

 

“Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was,” said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case.

 

“This is why you don’t hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble.”

 

“The damage, on a scale of 1 to 10, is a 12,” said a former intelligence official.

 

© 2013Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole and Robert Windrem, Snowden impersonated NSA officials, sources say, NBC News (29 August 2013)

 

 

The moral? — Mediocrities — people, who by definition, statistically define humanity’s norm — are perennially threatened by those, who operate at noticeably higher intellectual or moral levels

 

Government, public, and media reactions to Bradley “Chelsea” Manning and Edward Snowden’s leaks prove the point.

 

Comparatively few people have been wise enough to recognize that American Government’s autocratic activity undermines the foundations of the republican democracy that our society allegedly represents.  Manning and Snowden’s alleged criminality should have taken a distant back seat to the Government’s.  Instead, the whistleblowers became the persecuted ones.

 

The more inspiring aspects of the legacy left by the brilliant people, who founded the nation, have been submerged by the tide of mediocrity (and worse) that succeeded their brief spark in history.

 

“Brilliant people get you in trouble,” passes for wisdom in 21st Century America.  Score one for sheep.