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A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.

Glenn Greenwald

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Glenn Greenwald
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: March 6
Blogger
Journalist
Lawyer
Pundit
Writer
Queens
New York
Glenn Edward Greenwald
Purpose
Journalism
Light
Acts
Power
Provide
Shining
Adversarial
Keys
Wield
Greatest
Informing
Public
Check
Dark
Checks

More quotes by Glenn Greenwald

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As a journalist, I think the only question that you ask yourself - once you've determined that the material is authentic - is what is in the public interest to know. And then you go about and report it.
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The ultimate test of a society's freedom is not how it treats its good, obedient, compliant citizens it's how it treats its dissidents.
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[I]f you want instant, reflexive support for the US government's police and military powers, MSNBC is the place to turn these days.
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We should not be comfortable or content in a society where the only way to remain free of surveillance and repression is if we make ourselves as unthreatning, passive, and compliant as possible.
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Colin Powell speaks regularly to high-ranking U.S. officials, he knows a lot about what's going on in the government. And so he's a powerful person who merits transparency, just like any other powerful people do.
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The key question: will the NSA continue to monitor hundreds of millions of people without any suspicion? Under Obama's proposals: Yes.
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Those [American Jews] who favor the [Israeli] attack on Gaza are certainly guilty of such overwhelming emotional and cultural attachment to Israel and Israelis, that they long ago ceased viewing this conflict with any remnant of objectivity.
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Fearlessness can be its own form of power.
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Secrecy is the linchpin of abuse of power, . . . its enabling force. Transparency is the only real antidote.
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Terrorist', noun: 1. Someone my government tells me is a terrorist 2. Someone my President decides to kill.
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There is thus little or no ability for an internet user to know when they are being covertly propagandized by their government, which is precisely what makes it so appealing to intelligence agencies, so powerful, and so dangerous.
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When journalists are 'accused' of being 'advocates', that means: challenging and deviating from DC orthodoxies.
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Nobody really even knows with whom the US is at war, or where. Everyone just knows that it is vital that it continue in unlimited form indefinitely.
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You can offer the ability to citizens to choose from one of the two parties and elect their leaders as much as you want. But democracy is an illusion - a sham - if the most significant acts taken by those leaders are kept concealed from the citizenry.
Glenn Greenwald
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Arming domestic police forces with paramilitary weaponry will ensure their systematic use even in the absence of a terrorist attack on US soil they will simply find other, increasingly permissive uses for those weapons.
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The more fear confrontational activism can put into the heart of the political class, the better.
Glenn Greenwald
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Many of the most important stories in the history of modern journalism have come from sources who have taken information without authorization.
Glenn Greenwald
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He's the President—it's the responsibility of every citizen to criticize aggressively when they think it's warranted.
Glenn Greenwald
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There's a huge cost to freedom in letting people talk about how you print these plastic guns or letting them say these things about arming for tyranny. There's also a cost to letting the government say these ideas can't be expressed, this is treason. It's difficult.
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Having the career of the beloved CIA Director and the commanding general in Afghanistan instantly destroyed due to highly invasive and unwarranted electronic surveillance is almost enough to make one believe not only that there is a god, but that he is an ardent civil libertarian.
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