Well, I would like to say,
That everything works just one way,
And I'm sorry, but I can't,
'Cause all the answers are not at my command,
So I'll fly with what I know, but I'll step lightly where I land.
—"Something, Somewhere," Invention, by Phil Keaggy, Wes King, and Scott Denté
I know I have referenced these lyrics a time or two before, and I probably will many times again. I can be dogmatic to a fault on some subjects myself, but I try to maintain awareness of my own fallibility even then. On other topics, I know my knowledge is limited or superficial at best, so I try to write in a way that conveys this less certain understanding.
I plan to explore current events and try to extrapolate some evergreen concepts while sparking serious discussion. This is the first in what will probably be a long series on various topics as I try to wrap my mind around major issues. My goal is not to proclaim the truth on these matters, only to poke at the common perceptions and spark conversation.
I should also be open about my own biases. I am an anarchist, that is, an individual who rejects the legitimacy of political authority. Despite popular perception of anarchists, I am not a hooligan out to burn everything to the ground. I advocate individual liberty, personal responsibility, and a culture of consent because I support the Golden Rule without allowing for exceptions based on titles or offices.
I open this series with the recent news of a strange balloon. I know I'm late to the party on this topic. The Chinese government is accused of an audacious surveillance campaign involving a supersized weather balloon carrying a sensor array, solar panels, and maneuvering systems floating along the Aleutian islands of Alaska, across Canada, and over Montana before making its way to the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo by Chase Doak via Wikimedia
War hawks are already demanding reprisals for this dreadful affront to American sovereignty, whatever that is. Apparently these inexpensive balloons might be difficult for the military to detect with their standard radar and infrared systems, but the US and Canada claimed to have this one under observation when its existence was published by the Billings Gazette.
Once it was over water, the US sent an F-22 Raptor jet fighter to shoot it down. Billions of dollars over many years were dumped into the program, and its only confirmed air-to-air kill so far is an oversized weather balloon. Great job! There's no way a 50-year-old design like the F-15 Eagle could have the same flight ceiling and missile technology to handle that!
Now we wait to see when, or if, the government reveals what they recovered from the wreckage. Was it a super-secret Chinese espionage system somehow capable of doing something neither satellites nor ground-based surveillance systems could manage? Was it a civilian project that went out of control? We really know next to nothing, but speculation abounds and very confident opinions are presented as fact.
Let's suppose this is the worst-case scenario. The Chinese government is deliberately flying a surveillance balloon over the US to spy on military bases including nuclear missile silos and gather radio communications data. So what? How is this a realistic threat to you or me? Why is the US government so offended when it has a long history of aerial surveillance? Should we be eager to back whatever reprisals anyone advocates?
I guarantee TikTok is a greater Chinese threat to your personal security than this new story, to say nothing of what the US government wants to hoover up about your life. As for the military sites it allegedly observed, maybe it's time to rethink Mutually Assured Destruction and the validity of nuclear weapons strategy? How does the threat of annihilating civilians really promote peace, freedom, and prosperity?
No matter where you live, "your" government does not represent you. The political class is illegitimate. Their conflicts are not yours. Be suspicious when they proclaim "security threats" and call for military escalation. If their pride is wounded, so what? All we really have so far is accusations, suspicion, and emotionalism. I am content to wait for facts and analysis, and I will remain suspicious of anything the government claims even then. After all, they're not exactly a reliable source of truth on such matters.
Am I naïve here, or do you agree that this is indeed a tempest in a teapot serving only to rile up nationalistic emotions and serve the interests of a belligerent political class? Am I somehow a traitor if I don't fall in lockstep? Chime in with a comment!
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