Surprise amidst espionage that should have been expected.

What's with the amount of surprise generated by the news that the NSA was gathering intel on suspected enemies the world over, like our ally Germany's Chancellor and other countries we are supposed to be on good terms with. This seems to bear a message of distrust to any non-US entity, from entire nations down to the individual person, regardless of political standing.

If you were surprised by this news, you don't pay attention to global politics or history. It's standard operating procedure for any number of groups beyond 1. There is the us vs. them perception that was originally for evading predators or for demonstrating alpha status superiority to the competition. It's a standard feature of nearly every herding or territorial animal from the time the first complex organisms were evolving.

This should be something that is as obvious to postulate as the gravity's effect on falling or dropped object on the moon. The world is built on the fact that competition creates rivalry, especially among those who are lulled into believing that allies can exist with integrity during the social media age. There is no truly safe place to be now, if you want to maintain complete anonymity or privacy and benefit from any of the advances communication technology grant. Items like telephones, radios, computers, cell phones of all types, etc. are easy to monitor with a budget the size of the NSA's. It pays to have good help with useful skills.

The Russians were also put on blast for bugging gift bag for other visiting state officials, as if to say they were not to be out-outed over the indiscretion of their operating protocols. This is quite expected, though, if you remember the animal brain tangent earlier this very article. It seems as though both sides want to bully each other indirectly by also bullying everyone else with apparently poorly (or well) placed indicators that led to the discovery of "covert" surveillance was being conducted.

It's hard to say how this type of global surveillance presents itself as good politics, but it's perceived as something that will help humanity in the long term, at the expense of liberties that should be unalienated without inarguably hopeless circumstances.

If we as a whole stopped trying to be kings of the castle, we could evolve beyond the petty differences of our individual -isms. Get rid of the authority given to any church leaders and imparting taxes equivalent to a business of similar income per individual church building, not as only 1 organization. Then make information of literally any kind available to anyone that asks for it, within reason. Trust among people and the drive to improve life for all of humanity would very likely drive a new golden age, the likes of which would be beyond any we have been around to record, ever. It's only a complete series of choices that every single person alive would have to make, but the inevitable extinction event will not be caused by our own creations, possibly extending the species survival another day or several millennia (based on a whole slew of other events happening or not). There would be time to tackle the biggest problems and mysteries that wait for us to be able to find them.

Sorry to get all idealistic on you, dear reader, I should probably allow you to return to the chaotic flow of life, and thanks for donating some of your precious time entertaining my point of view. Until I rant again.