Most Americans Not Worried About Domestic Spying, page 1

posted on May, 12 2006 @ 12:22 PM

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A startling Washington Post poll revealed today that fully 63% of Americans are not particularly worried about the NSA domestic spying efforts. This number includes a surprising 44% that support the efforts.

www.washingtonpost.com
The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority--66 percent--said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

Underlying those views is the belief that the need to investigate terrorism outweighs privacy concerns. According to the poll, 65 percent of those interviewed said it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats "even if it intrudes on privacy." Three in 10--31 percent--said it was more important for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I'm shocked by this. It seems that all the ramping up of "fear mongering" has had the expected result of creating a populace that woudl surrender fundamental rights for perceived notion of safety.

Related News Links:
www.sfgate.com
www.madison.com

MrPenny

posted on May, 12 2006 @ 12:36 PM

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What do you think is more important right now - (for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy); or (for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats)?

This is one of the questions from the poll.
Is it my bias, or is that a somewhat slanted question?

Gools

posted on May, 12 2006 @ 08:46 PM

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Originally posted by MrPenny
...or is that a somewhat slanted question?

If a prosecutor tried to ask a question like that in court the defense would jump-up and yell OBJECTION! to such a leading question.

It's sad how so many people can be lead so easily or don't understand what is at stake on these issues. Each story reveals another layer of the brave new world of surveillance. The Boiling Frog Syndrome at work.
.

Sauron

posted on May, 12 2006 @ 09:06 PM

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I was reading this article this morning at Crooks and liars.com, it explains how this poll was done. And it is just as Gools and MrPenny have said.

www.firedoglake.com...

The headline blazing across the Washinton Post this morning reads: "Poll: Most Americans Support NSA’s Efforts."

It was written by Richard Morin
(Snip)
So before the phone records story even breaks, Morin — who knows absolutely what he is doing — starts polling people who have no idea what he’s talking about and giving it his best shot, tying it to the War on Terra. It works. Today it’s plastered across the front page of the washingtonpost.com

(Snip)

As eRiposte has noted, in a CBS/NYT poll earlier this year this was one of the questions posed.

In order to reduce the threat of terrorism, would you be willing or not willing to allow government agencies to monitor the telephone calls and e-mails of ordinary Americans on a regular basis?

At that time 70% responded "no." A rather strong indication that a lot has to do with how these particular questions are worded.

WestPoint23

posted on May, 12 2006 @ 09:07 PM

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Originally posted by SkeptiOverlord
I'm shocked by this. It seems that all the ramping up of "fear mongering" has had the expected result of creating a populace that woudl surrender fundamental rights for perceived notion of safety.

I’m curious, SO, what fundamental rights did this latest NSA program violate? By the way, I’m not suppressed by this poll, when people take the time to find out what the program was actually doing they will see through the hype.