It's important that we elevate and primarily focus on the rights of American citizens, but it's also important that we don't forget, 95 percent of the world's population lives beyond our own borders.
Edward SnowdenRead
Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the irony of sacrificing freedoms for security against a rare threat while ignoring more common dangers.
Edward Snowden's quote provocatively critiques the societal response to terrorism versus other mundane yet lethal risks, such as accidents and law enforcement actions. It underscores the paradox of prioritizing security measures that infringe on civil liberties in response to an unlikely threat, while larger and more immediate dangers are often overlooked or normalized. This commentary prompts reflection on how fear can skew our perceptions of danger and the importance of preserving fundamental rights in the face of such fears.
Themes
FreedomTerrorismSacrificesRightsSafety
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about civil liberties and national security, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need to question the trade-offs we make.
More from Edward Snowden
All quotes βI think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal.
Edward SnowdenRead
Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting?
Edward SnowdenRead
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.
Edward SnowdenRead
Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him... the better off we all are.
Edward SnowdenRead
I don't see myself as a hero because what I'm doing is self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.
Edward SnowdenRead
Similar quotes
Realise this: one day your soul_x000D_ will depart from your body and you will_x000D_ be drawn behind the curtain that floats between us_x000D_ and the unknown. While you wait for that moment, be happy,_x000D_ because you don't know where you came from and_x000D_ you don't know where you will be going.
Omar KhayyamRead
If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
Frank HerbertRead
I'd be so fascinated to talk to a psychologist or sociologist about the deep psychological impact of seeing oneself represented. I don't think we've really touched the surface of what it does to the psyche of a people if the only image of you out there is negative. Or if it's never out there.
Sandra OhRead
How difficult it is to avoid having a special standard for oneself.
C. S. LewisRead
But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.
Alan WattsRead
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
PlatoRead