A reader sent me a link to this story, and the more I looked into it, the more it struck me that it is a microcosm of the relationship between ordinary citizens and people who work in government.
In the eyes of many people in government, citizens are resources to be farmed for fun and profit. Politicians and many government workers make virtuous noises about being “public servants,” but the reality is that they, as with most people, are looking out for themselves.
As long as you understand that, you can develop the appropriate attitude toward government: buyer beware. The government has a place in the great division of labor in society, but you should take its promises of virtue and compassion as seriously as the corporations that make performative donations to charities for branding purposes.
Stay cynical, in other words. Your cynicism about the good…
