This matter of "privacy" in public affairs . . .
Gil Hardwick (gil@landmark.DIALix.oz.au)
Tue, 29 Nov 1994 03:27:19 GMT
There is an exceptionally good reason for politicians and others to
be regarded "public figures", with matters before parliaments and in
the courts open to public scrutiny.
That is the same reason exactly for my having decided on graduating
from University to "go public" spontaneously on any matter I regard as
being in the broader interest beyond my own personal affairs.
That reason is no other than to protect our interests from those who
presume to make decisions affecting our lives, where because of their
privileged standing we are unable otherwise to defend ourselves.
That includes circumstances where academics are free to assign grades
arbitrarily, or where the student does not happen to be of the same
political or religious persuasion, or in other known cases where the
student does not happen to be enjoying a sexual relationship with the
teacher, or does not happen to be gay, or simply does not want to be
sucked into such scandals anyway, or whatever other reason.
That includes circumstances where people are being abused by others
in positions more powerful than theirs, whether they be professors in
Universities, members of the military, parents and/or caregivers, or
anyone else.
That includes others who take it upon themselves to seek anonymously
and secretively to have access to resources like the Internet denied
people, because they don't happen to agree with their views, or to
comply with their own arbitrary, non-negotiable "standards" of
politeness and good manners.
That includes privileged access to any resources whatsoever while
one's neighbours are most egregiously deprived, especially under the
pretext where the privileged are deemed to be the real victims in law,
while those who starve are somehow perpetrators of some sort of evil
against society.
Maybe just an embarrassment, exposing by their very existence the
incompentence and corruption of said public figures taking it upon
themselves to make all the decisions . . .
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Australia +61 97 53 3270
Don't worry about all this "sustainable agriculture".
We might well ask, what sustains the cities?
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