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.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the limitations on free publishing due to various censorships while contrasting it with the vast growth of information collection by powerful entities.
Julian Assange's quote reflects the increasing restrictions on open publication fueled by self-censorship, economic factors, and political pressures, amidst the rapid expansion of the military-industrial complex. He suggests that this powerful entity collects an immense amount of information on individuals, surpassing what the public is aware of, thereby raising concerns about privacy, freedom of expression, and the implications of such surveillance in society.
In practice
In a discussion about freedom of speech at a university event.
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.
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.
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.
One who is allowed to sin, sins less
People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.
Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust...They point us toward a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.
The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves.
Oh to follow the road that leads away from everything, without anguish, death, winter waiting along it with their eyes open through the dew.
Everything is vain and tortures the spirit instead of calming and satisfying it.
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