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
We have seen enough criminality on the part of government. It is hypocritical to make this allegation against me. They have narrowed the public sphere of influence.
Interpretation
The quote critiques government hypocrisy and its impact on public discourse.
Edward Snowden's quote highlights the contradictions of government officials who accuse individuals of wrongdoing while themselves engaging in unethical behavior. He argues that this hypocrisy undermines the public's trust and limits open dialogue, suggesting that those in power have a responsibility to adhere to higher standards of conduct.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate about government surveillance to illustrate the inconsistency in government accountability.
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.
I 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.
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?
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all.
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.
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.
All extremes of feeling are allied to madness.
Coincidences are the scars of fate.
When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man.
I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there.
How horrible it is to have so many people killed! And what a blessing that one cares for none of them!
God does not exist to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God.
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