The FBI recently released a troubling statement, in which it urged Americans to start participating in its newfound program to combat “homegrown violent extremism.” In essence, the FBI requested for the American people to begin spying on their friends and family, as well as to report any kind of suspicious behavior.
The new program emerges after the Biden administration and the FBI claimed that the largest threat to national security was white nationalism. However, neither the Biden administration nor the FBI acknowledged the threat of Islamic terrorism, which many critics claim poses a massive constitutional problem.
Family members and peers are often best positioned to witness signs of mobilization to violence. Help prevent homegrown violent extremism. Visit https://t.co/bql36iSbig to learn how to spot suspicious behaviors and report them to the #FBI. #NatSec pic.twitter.com/ZwJp5h5bWD
— FBI (@FBI) July 11, 2021
For instance, Former Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) noted that the FBI’s new program has to be “fake news,” as the agency is literally requesting for family members to report on their other family members that may do anything remotely “suspicious.”
“What if somebody was drinking and was a little bit rude to another family member?” Paul questioned, added that this program could be one way for people to take revenge on other people, or that at least “a little bit of that might go on.”
Moreover, other critics observed that putting family and friends up for literal persecution from the federal government was a common tactic of the Soviet Union and East Germany. Consequently, such politicized policing directly contradicts various freedoms in the United States.
Daniel Adams, the Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute, also noted that the FBI program has been deliberately designed in order to do so, or “to pit people against other people,” which will also “break down normal bonds [Americans] have in community.”
In other words, when many people are highly suspicious of other people, the government becomes the only source wherein people can have any recourse, which is what the program is really “all about.”
Other critics claimed that the FBI has provided the Democrats with assistance in carrying out their political influence, despite the fact that it comes at the grave expense of public trust and constitutional freedoms.
