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| “A non-authoritarian government is an historical anomaly.” (comment) | ||
| recommended by 2 users | 2013 | barrkel on: NSA's Backdoor Key from Lotus Notes | privacy & surveillance | original thread | | ||
| barrkel on Jun 9, 2013 | on: NSA's Backdoor Key from Lotus Notes | view on HN | ||
| 2 users recommended this comment. What they said: |
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xvector Dec 23, 2019 | on: NSA's Backdoor Key from Lotus Notes (2002) | context
Thank you for the link. I found barrkel’s comment[1] particularly moving: > A non-authoritarian government is an historical anomaly. It's a ball balanced on top of a hill, pushed there by the deaths of millions, and kept there by the vigilance of those who care. Please start caring. |
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hyperdimension Apr 15, 2022 | on: Americans’ views on the war reveal a striking generational… | context
> knife's edge of peace This phrasing reminded me of a comment I favorited a while ago, so I went through my favorited comments and found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5847789 "It took thousands of years of human civilisation before we got relatively benign governments. Power structures are not inherently benign; they must constantly be pressured to prevent malignant people using them to leverage their actions. A non-authoritarian government is an historical anomaly. It's a ball balanced on top of a hill, pushed there by the deaths of millions, and kept there by the vigilance of those who care. Please start caring." |
It took thousands of years of human civilisation before we got relatively benign governments. Power structures are not inherently benign; they must constantly be pressured to prevent malignant people using them to leverage their actions.
A non-authoritarian government is an historical anomaly. It's a ball balanced on top of a hill, pushed there by the deaths of millions, and kept there by the vigilance of those who care.
Please start caring.