Why didn’t this man do his job!
One of the foremost topics of discussion in the journalism world is this report by The Guardian in June earlier this year- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order
It is perhaps the single most important piece of writing in the world of journalism at the moment. Something straight out of a movie! You could almost hear this at a cinema:
“In a world…Run by governments..there was a secret programme that spied into all our lives…Then…One man revealed it all!…The Guardian..coming this fall.”
When I read that incredible story it made me think of a whole lot of issues. Was this breaching my privacy? Was it invasive? Do I care? Does it keep me safe?
Amongst these questions lay one question that kept tugging at eyebrows- “Where was James Bond in all this? Why didn’t Jack Bauer beat the crap out of Edward Snowden in 24 hours!? Why didn’t Agent Coulsen from S.H.I.E.L.D come and take his computer away? Where were these people!” or their real counterparts (as they seem purport!). We all thought: “Even though most of this is unreal…some if it has to be yea?”
Is the all-out smooth talking, babe bedding, mass destructing secret agent all just a myth? Were they merely flights of fancy by people who wished they were more than just a boring old John watching the crowd go by? Simple answer. Yea!
This one episode ought to send a very clear to conspiracy theorists across the world… The NSA, CIA, FBI, MOSSAD…are not as all-encompassing and all powerful as some would have you believe. There are people out there who genuinely believe that the secret agencies across the world keep highly sensitive information like ‘UFO’s’ and ‘aliens’ from the people because they’re all elitists. I’m sure if you’ve given up most of your social life to be a secret agent, you’d be asking yourself this question every day: “Will today be my last?” Not a great way to live is it?
The secret agencies are only as human as the rest of us. They are run by human beings who err just like us. Except, maybe, a lot less. Yet, vastly efficient and resourceful. They’re bloody good at what they do. However, they aren’t superheroes.They spill coffee just like us. They slip on wet surfaces just like us and, most definitely, they eat sleep and.. just like us. James Bond is the ideal. johnny English is what we got.
Sleight Of Thought 