
A Friend of the Devil: Inside a Famous Cold War Deception - acsillag
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/a-friend-of-the-devil
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throwawayaway
> The C.I.A. did not buy into the adage that the student leader of today is
> the student leader of tomorrow. It calculated that the heads of national
> student organizations were likely some day to become important figures in
> their countries’ governments. When that happened (and it often did), the
> American government had a file on them.

And yet today students are perfectly willing to detail the minutiae of their
lives on their online permanent record.

~~~
snlacks
Two factors play into this publicity of private individual lives.

If everyone's skeletons are out in the open for everyone else to see, they're
no longer skeletons.

What one social group considers a skeleton in their closet, another considers
a badge of honor.

I benefitted from this, I'm into and have been into all sorts of things that
would have socially stigmatized me 50 years ago. Meanwhile, someone else who
is racist or beats their spouse or kids is likely to face social condemnation.

Times change, in this case, for the better.

~~~
throwawayaway
I agree times have changed for the better, I'm not sure that can be counted on
continuing forever. We have a morality of the here and now and whether the
morality of tomorrow is the same or better is up for debate.

I don't think that STD's, alcoholism, drug abuse or mental health issues are
ever going to be considered badges of honour over the course of people's
careers.

If you don't believe that the "delete" and "mark private" features of these
online publishing things work, well there's a lot of juicy info there for the
taking on tomorrow's public figures.

~~~
snlacks
Definitely, there's going to be a lot of (fun?) surprises for people who don't
quite get the nature of a digital image or video. I've know digital pack rats
that save other people's photos.

I don't think STDs and youthful alcoholism will be badges of honor, but I
think there's an undercurrent of people feeling as if we all have baggage of
one type or another. They're much more likely to be ruled out of public office
for pictures of themselves wearing "race face" or date rape bragging or
something.

I switched from skeletons to baggage for my clichés...

------
lmm
This is an interesting side to the oddly favourable treatment America gives
private charitable foundations, both in tax terms and more generally.
Tangentially related: [http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-
philanthropy-d...](http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/foundations-philanthropy-
democracy)

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rurban
So that's why after 67 they decided to fund themselves and friends with black
drug money? Hmm...

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london888
Is it my fault for too much coffee and being irritable or is the article
extremely difficult to read?

~~~
kazinator
But think how much harder, still, it would be without the snooty diaeresis on
"coöperation".

~~~
nitrogen
That is simply part of the style of some publications.

~~~
kazinator
It is not style. It's just a way of saying, "we are above all the philistine
modifications that have damaged the English language and its orthography for
over a century".

Style occurs when you use word choice to impress the reader, not when you
place some outdated droppings over a letter which you regard as compulsory.

They use the diaeresis because they regard its absence to be incorrect. Which
means that they regard everyone who writes "cooperation" as committing an
error. Hence, snooty.

I wonder, do these pompous pricks tell their children to write that way in
school? Or answer that way in spelling bees? I can just see it: "Hey Johnny,
spell cooperation!" "Cee, oh, oh-with-a-diaeresis, pee, ...". Or maybe they
feed them crap like, "Johnny, at school, just play along and use the dumb
spelling okay? But between us at home, we know better, don't we! We write it
as coöperation with the two dots." "Dad, you mean _among_ us, don't you?" "No,
I mean between. Mommy left a note that she won't be coming home any more, so
it's just you and me. Pardon me, you and I."

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stefantalpalaru
Civil society organizations perverted and controlled by those parts of the
state that operate outside the law? Just like in the enemy camp? Oh, don't
worry about it, it's perfectly justified by the common good. Just like in the
enemy camp.

~~~
dguaraglia
If only people could wrap their heads around this, there'd be a chance for
things to improve.

The way things are, though, most people still believe the American government
can do no wrong and every other nation is out to get us. It's so
disappointing.

~~~
dguaraglia
Case in point.

