Jon Stewart: Spying Is Like Testicular Cancer, a Tumor on Your Balls Can’t Kill You If You Don’t See It (Video)

Congress was shocked, just shocked over revelations that the National Security Agency and other intelligence organizations enjoyed sprawling access to reams of data and personal communication, Jon Stewart noted on Wednesday’s edition of “The Daily Show.” Although the political satirist had a little trouble buying the plausibility of their deniability.

“The congressmen on the intelligence committee were adamant that they did not know anything about how we gather intelligence,” Stewart said.

“They have every right to be outraged and surprised,” he added. “Well not every right. They have no right.”

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Stewart noted that Congress passed the USA Patriot Act in 2001, which gave the intelligence community blanket surveillance powers, and voted to extend the legislation on subsequent occasions.

“The very legislature that is bewildered by the scope and reach of our spying apparatus, granted them the scope and reach,” Stewart said, comparing it to a parent who says, “‘I can’t believe you stayed out all night and got drunk just because I left you with a keg of beer and a note that said do whatever the f— you want for as long as you want.’”

Of course, supporters of granting extensive powers to spying organizations, such as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R., Mich.), argue that the fact that nobody has complained about the eavesdropping in the past decade is evidence that the program is working.

“Yes ladies and gentlemen, I give you the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee’s airtight logic for why this can’t be a big deal, because for ten years no one complained that they were being surveilled without their knowledge,” Stewart said.

“Spying is like healthcare,” he added. “If you never find that tumor in your ball sack, it can’t kill you. It’s like Benjamin Franklin said, ‘those who would trade liberty for security should never find out that that decision has already been made for them.’”

Watch the video: