Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love.
Interpretation
Inaction in the face of injustice weakens our ability to stand up for ourselves and others.
This quote emphasizes the importance of taking action against injustice. By choosing to remain passive when witnessing wrongdoing, we not only allow the injustice to persist but also dull our own sense of justice and deprive ourselves of the ability to stand up for what is right, ultimately impacting our loved ones as well.
In practice
In a speech at a civil rights rally.
The greater the power, the more need there is for transparency, because if the power is abused, the result can be so enormous. On the other hand, those people who do not have power, we mustn't reduce their power even more by making them yet more transparent.
I saw that publishing all over the world was deeply constrained by self-censorship, economics and political censorship, while the military-industrial complex was growing at a tremendous rate, and the amount of information that it was collecting about all of us vastly exceeded the public imagination.
You can either be informed and your own rulers, or you can be ignorant and have someone else, who is not ignorant, rule over you.
The internet, our greatest tool of emancipation, has been transformed into the most dangerous facilitator of totalitarianism we have ever seen. The internet is a threat to human civilization.
Now as before, women must refuse to be meek and guileful, for truth cannot be served by dissimulation. Women who fancy that they manipulate the world by pussy power and gentle cajolery are fools. It is slavery to have to adopt such tactics.
I can survive setbacks, I've survived a lot of setbacks in my life. I don't see them as anything other than the natural ebb and flow of life and politics.
You could be a victim, you could be a hero, you could be a villain, or you could be a fugitive. But you could not just stand by. If you were in Europe between 1933 and 1945, you had to be something.
Adversity isn't an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. It's part of our life.
When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.
I'm a black lady from the Lower East Side of New York. Not a lot intimidates me.
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