User:The way, the truth, and the light
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I am The way, the truth, and the light (talk · contribs · logs · block user · block log).
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I am for truth, honor, and dignity.
Lies and dishonesty
Some people have a habit of lying, often including lying to themselves first of all. These people quite often make their way into positions of power, where they can continue their destructive pattern of dishonor. However, the only reason these people survive is that their behavior is never publicly identified for what it truly is. Lies and dishonesty must be called lies and dishonesty, publicly, repeatedly if necessary, as I try to do, as that is the only means of discouraging such behavior.
Censorship
Everyone will acknowledge that censorship is opposed to free speech. However, its use is often hijacked by those that associate the term purely with the suppression of offensive content such as pornography, other nudity, profanity, graphic violence, and so on. That misses the point: whatever the merits of suppression of that material, it can't be denied that it is targeted because its nature is considered inherently offensive. What truly needs protection from censorship is that that is considered offensive because of the ideas it advocates - freedom of speech was conceived for the purpose of facilitating freedom of thought, and that must include all ideas, including those considered offensive by some.
Secrecy
Secrecy I define as the practice of an organization of any sort of hiding information from an audience that might have a legitimate interest, chiefly because they fear criticism for it. It can be practiced by an entire organization against the public or by the leaders of an organization against its members. Note that there is a sharp distinction between privacy and secrecy; the former consists of keeping secret things that should be, the latter of things that should not be.
The institution of secrecy is corrosive of decency as it results in its practitioners feeling an unrestrained power, and this always aids in corrupt practice. When secrecy is used to hide that that is destructive of personal dignity or privacy, it may be acceptable or even admirable, but in reality the main effect of its unrestricted use is the removal of those checks to power that are naturally provided by scrutiny.
The principle of evil
Power is evil and evil is power. This is an awesomely strong statement; tyranny and hypocrisy can not stand before it. For how can evil be done than through power - and power is used to do evil, as those that have power deceive even themselves about their use of power. Tear down power and tear down evil; expose power to the light and evil shirks. For no one with power can be trusted to report on the use of that power, but there are always those that will. Censorship is used to prevent this, all the censorship that really matters has this as its root justification. If censorship is destroyed, those that will report will do so - and power shrinks and evil does not prevail.
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