Why I Won't Work for the NSA

Just found this awesome segment from the movie Good Will Hunting. I am not a huge fan of Mat Damon, but he most definitely drops a bomb in 2:41 seconds flat. Definitely worth 3 minutes of your time.

Indeed. That speech was truly prophetic.

Great!

Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a -. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the -. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his - got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and -' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the -' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his - is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin', 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure - it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.

How do you like them apples?

Probably my favorite movie from Matt Damon and he has a great point there. I still do not know what I am going to do with my degree after school. When I talk about it with people the government or military option almost always comes up but I don't know why people would want to do that. Sure you are getting paid and probably living comfortably but at what cost.

Maybe it does happen that way sometimes, or maybe breaking that code results in a thousand saved lives because you uncovered a plot to, oh, i dunno, bomb the WTC and kill 3,000 people or something. Seems to me the same argument is being used to justify WikiLeaks. Yeah, releasing those cables might actually result in some deaths because someone might act upon that information, but it is our right to know. The NSA is doing exactly the same thing, uncovering truth that someone else may act upon to cause harm.

Just an example. Let's say the NSA uncovered a plot to sneak suitcase nukes into all our major cities and let them off all at omce, thus entirely destroying the country and killing tens of millions of civilians. Don't you want the NSA actively seeking out that kind of information. If they did not (Somebody might get hurt, you know) wouldn't that be derilection of duty? I think so.

reply to post by schuyler


Sure, of course. But the problem with the NSA, which Matt Damon spoke of so eloquently, was the fact that they use these broken codes for OFFENSIVE purposes. Indeed they are a tool to defending our country, but one cannot deny their real purpose. And I am sure people DID "break the code" on 9/11, and I am sure they were told to shut up about it.