How The NSA is Spying on Americans ~ Oliver Stone

Date:10-2013 . Biography: Oliver Stone has been credited with writing and or directing over 20 full-length feature films, earning him a well-respected place in cinematic history for some of the most influential and iconic films of the last two decades.

Throughout his long career, which began at a young age writing short plays for his family, Oliver Stone has served as director, writer and producer on a variety of films, documentaries and television movies. He is widely recognized for his controversial versions of recent American history, some of them at deep odds with conventional myth -- films such as 1986's "Platoon," the first of his Vietnam trilogy, or 1991's "JFK" and 1994's "Natural Born Killers" and "Nixon," his 1995 take on the finer points and parables of the Nixon administration, as well as on George W. Bush in "W." (2008) Stone says his films are "first and foremost dramas about individuals in personal struggles," and considers himself a dramatist rather than a political filmmaker.

Biography:

is a professor of history and director of the award-winning Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and is currently serving his third term as distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians. He has written extensively about science and politics, nuclear history, and Cold War culture.

Oliver Stone, and professor of history, Peter Kuznick, for a discussion on how far the United States has drifted from its democratic traditions, the dangers of American exceptionalism, NSA spying, and the JFK assassination. "There's a tremendous arrogance to our ethnocentricity," Stone observed regarding America's perspective that "we have the right to do as we wish" within the global community. Kuznick noted that the idea of American exceptionalism dates back to the colonial era, but it has evolved, in modern times, to be used as bipartisan justification for less-than-honorable goals such as military intervention driven by economic desires.

Reflecting on the NSA spying scandal which has erupted in recent months, Stone argued that George W. Bush's unchallenged circumventing of the FISA courts led to the exacerbating of government spying under the Obama administration. While the current level of surveillance may seem benign to the average law-abiding citizen, Kuznick suggested that it could be dangerous for innocent civilians in the future as the spying technology gets more sophisticated and, thus, more easily abused by potentially nefarious leaders. Echoing these thoughts, Stone warned that "this is going to go into the future," and could be exacerbated in the event of another terrorist attack. Beyond terrorism, he cited the extensive spying on Vietnam War protesters and surmised that such social movements could be easily stifled in the future by way of this extensive surveillance system.