Many of Howard's students have behind-the-scenes access to the political system with the privilege of regularly participating in internship programs at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and other federal government agencies, because of the school's location in the nation's capital.
But the economic system has become so pervaded by political privilege that asking politicians for help has become the principal lobbying objective in Washington.
When it comes to parsing and understanding the politics of cybersecurity, keeping our noses to the ground is a necessary check on the abuse of privilege and is a means to exercise some oversight over a system that is currently failing to curb the discursive excesses of powerful interests within government and industry.
If the indignant depictions of the class system in so many Titanic dramas coexist uneasily with their adoring depictions of upper-crust privilege, that, too, is part of the appeal: it allows us to demonstrate our liberalism even as we indulge our consumerism.