According to this the idea was coined even before WWI
The origin of the quote is not Goebbels.
Someone else has traced the quotation to a novel by Upton Sinclair in The Profits of Religion (do a books.google.com search for the phrase and you will find it.
In short, it is highly unlikely that Goebbels said this. As is usually the case with such quotations, no one who cites it provides a source.
Randall Bytwerk, expert in Nazi propaganda (Prof. Randall Bytwerk)
The problem with quotes from the internet is, that you cannot rely on their accuracy.
- Abraham Lincoln, 1864
It really comes down to trust, or the lack thereof. People don’t trust their governments and governments don’t trust their people. I think this mistrust originates from governments so often being imposed on the people, rather than the government being subordinate to the people. If the government were truly subordinate to the people, I don’t think privacy would be nearly as much of a concern.
This makes sense on the face of it, but trust is fleeting. Let’s say we do establish trust in a democratically elected government and allow them to ‘violate’ our privacy for the common good. Who’s to say the next elected representatives are just as trustworthy? If the laws and systems we create allow for violation of privacy in the long term they will be abused at some point.
Well, I think there’s much more to making a government subordinate to its people than just electing representatives, especially if our options for representation are limited. I’m talking about a more radical departure from the status quo, about making the people the ultimate authority.
Not sure how that works exactly but I’ll still want my privacy from “the people.” if there is the potential for abuse there will be abuse, I’d rather limit the data leak right at the source.
Is it just the government?
I am trying to think if your neighbours would rat you out to other groups.
Having seen how “the gentlemen of the press” behave, I can easily believe there are people who would guard their privacy jealously to protect themselves from the feckless bastards who are “brave crusaders for justice and freedom”.
Nothing to do with the government. Nothing to do with breaking the law, or even coming close. Just because they have no desire to see their lives on the front pages of every paper and their personal lives made so much fodder for the public.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States
This shit right here is why I’ll never trust them. You’d be a fool to.
Vimes has always been one of my favorite characters in all media lol
Plowed all 41 books last year. Damn. Sometimes I’d have to put the book down and think on a thing or two. There were also a couple of times I had to put one down because I couldn’t stop laughing.
Never read anything that had me in true awe of the author. Stephen King blows me away with his realistic characters and dialog, but Pratchett was next level on everything.
How could a single mind contain so much?!
He was on a lot of issues waaay before the zeitgeist caught up with him. He has a whole book on trans rights in a world with codified gender norms (Monstrous Regiment) published in 2003, years before that was on anyone’s radar.
Who would you be more suspicious of? A neighbor who always keeps their blinds closed? Or the neighbor who always peeks out of their window?
