[arca_vorago]

Where do you think the CIA fucking learned it from? MI6 (who learned it in opium wars 1&2) taught to OSS (CIA) how to get funding off books so congress couldn't pull the purse strings and they could do whatever they wanted... and this has indeed been proven multiple times...

You are the same kind of person who called us talking about NSA pre-Snowden "tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists" and then post-Snowden came out with all kinds of variations of "why are you surprised" and "we all already knew this whats the big deal", and "if you've nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" type of bullshit.

In the conspiracy theory arena, the main sticking point is that people far too often fail to understand the difference between inductive and deductive logic. In many cases we have very little evidence to go on, so we are forced to transition to inductive logic from deductive... but inevitably those decrying the lack of evidence the loudest tend to ignore the very real legitimacy of inductive logic and it's process when one is presented with a lack of hard evidence.

[dang]

This crosses into personal attack. We ban accounts that do that. Please (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

[mmt]

Isn't that being a tad overly-sensitive over what is, essentially, a technicality?

I agree that the tone borders on uncivil maybe crosses over with some vulgar language, but the only part that could be construed as ad-hominem is the phrase "You are the same kind of person" and, even then, the rest of the sentence goes on to accuse the commentor of making an argument by providing an analogy.

No name-calling occurred.

Threatening to ban someone for posting a comment that does, overall, make an important point, even when phrased awkwardly or not in the most civil way possible, is likely to have a chilling effect and "destroy intellectual curiosity", to borrow from the guidelines.

[dang]

It's a trope of getting personal on the internet to say "you are the kind of person who". Both aspects are bad, not just the personalness but also the tropiness, because by definition it repeats very easily. It's important to nip that in the bud. And it's not like it's necessary to make any substantive point.

[mmt]

But what is getting personal? Other than the use of the word "person", there is no actual reference to anyone's person.

The personal aspect would be bad, except it doesn't exist.

The tropiness of the phrase I'll take your word for, as I don't frequent any other online discussion sites. It certainly doesn't add to the discussion.

Is a phrase that is extraneous, currently popular/cliche, and merely possibly offensive because it's typically used ad-hominem elsewhere, really cause for threatening to ban a user?

I think you're over-reacting.

[jnbiche]

Anyone who was paying attention before Snowden knew there was mass surveillance happening. See Room 641A, Stellar Wind, Quest Communication's refusal to cooperate, etc. These were all reported well before Snowden in major media such as the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, etc. I remember many of these were first reported back in 2006.

On the other hand, no reports on CIA programs selling crack cocaine to the inner city have ever been described or verified by any major media outlet, as far as I am aware[1]. Nor have I seen any convincing evidence of such a program.

But I'm open to any evidence you can show me, if you have any.

Also, as someone else pointed out, MI6 wasn't founded until a half century after the Opium Wars.

1. Despite many major media outlets—the same ones who outed programs like Stellar Wind—investigating the claims that the CIA smuggled drugs into black communities, they all found that there was no evidence of such a program.

[lawlessquestion]

Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion is a 1998 book by journalist Gary Webb. The book is based on "Dark Alliance", Webb's three-part investigative series published in the San Jose Mercury News in August 1996. Wikipedia

The major news outlets for the most part did not dispute his facts, just used former cia reporters to discredit his conclusions. Which led to Gary Webb "committing suicide" by shooting himself twice in the head with a revolver

[panzagl]

So MI-6 learned it from wars they were never involved in, then taught it to the US intelligence service during WWII in case they needed it to jail black people? Which the CIA then decided it needed to do 20 years after the Civil Rights movement? Ok.

[walshemj]

MI6 didn't exist until just prior to ww1