Of Devils and Agencies and Metadata and You

Long before the scandal about government snooping and gathering of metadata broke, I wrote a post (HERE) about Pope Francis’ mentions of the Devil, the Enemy of the soul.

Consider the way angels can gather “metadata” on us and build an accurate profile of each of us such that they pretty much anticipation what we think and will do even though they cannot read our minds or change our will.

Here’s an excerpt:

[Angels/devils] never sleep, never tire, are never distracted, have no need to travel from point a to b, and they never miss what you are up to.

Think this through.

Imagine what sort of profile on you some government agency could put together.

Imagine that government agencies wanted to build a psychological profile of you, much as the FBI might when they use clues and evidence to hunt down an unknown serial killer.

So these government agents … just to make this fun, let’s call it The Agency (under Obama’s fourth term), teamed up with his newly minted Domestic Security Force, are profiling Catholics… because they are probably terrorists and dissidents and refuse to worship Moloch and offer sacrifices of incense to the statue of the POTUS.

The Agency and DSF start to plot your movements through your mobile phone as you move in and out of cells which they monitor to triangulate your location.  They learn something about you through your patterns of travel.  They learn about your tastes and interests through your purchasing history.  They monitor your calls, where you go on the internet, what you write and read in your email and on webpages.  They look at all your online transactions. Through your credit card records they hunt up the actual receipts and examine what you bought at every store…  including those embarrassing things.
After all, you leave amazingly information-rich and detailed trails and clues to who you are with every move and purchase.

The Agency and DSF review all your library checkouts, your magazine subscriptions, your movie going habits, your DVD choices through Netflix or digital downloads through iTunes.  They watch your channel selections through your cable or satellite. All this information can be mined.  They watch your every interaction with your friends… and strangers too, for that matter, with listening devices and cameras.  After gathering all this information, the Agency’s profiling experts build a picture of you, get into your head.   They figure out what you are about, who you are, and what you going to do next.

They are merely humans with a lot of bits of information.

How much better can fallen angels, the demons do this?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. DisturbedMary says:

    Important to remember that demons can’t read our minds. Our outward behavior – yes. Our expressions – yes. But our minds – no.

  2. StJude says:

    If the devils in our Govt are putting together a profile of me.. they will be sickened. My emails are from my family and friends.. usually Obama jokes. I get regular emails from the NRA, Glen Beck and Allen West. My phone calls are work, my mom and pizza delivery. My text messages are from my 7 year old niece and Verizon reminding me to pay my bill.
    My trail on the internet is pro-life, novena’s, Father Z, looking up Saints. You tube for gardening, cute dog video’s and country music. Twitter is mostly for bashing Obama. My purchases on line are candles burned at the St Jude shrine and the occasional sweater. My facebook postings consist of ‘liking’ my niece and nephew pictures. (they are just too cute)
    Read it and weep evil doers. .. I am everything you cant stand.

  3. Gregg the Obscure says:

    Given the dossier that actual demons have on me and their great cunning, it’s no surprise that each temptation presents itself at the moment I am most vulnerable to it. I’m quite glad that, for all its demonic priorities, the political regime is so magnificently stupid.

  4. LarryW2LJ says:

    If the Federal Demons are creating a dossier about my Catholic faith, then I guess I’d better get in line for The Audit right now. Remember that popular sermon a few years back? “If being Catholic was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

    Get out the handcuffs, Boys!

  5. unavoceman says:

    They can’t read your mind but probably the first thing a devil would want to know if he could send you a questionnaire might be “what is the content of your prayers?”

    Hmmmm… haven’t I read news reports of that very question being asked somewhere recently?…

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