Quote

The definition of an extreme authoritarian is one who is willing blindly to assume that government accusations are true without any evidence presented or opportunity to contest those accusations.

Glenn Greenwald

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Glenn Greenwald
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: March 6
Blogger
Journalist
Lawyer
Pundit
Writer
Queens
New York
Glenn Edward Greenwald
Willing
Presented
Opportunity
Extreme
True
Assume
Accusations
Definition
Blindly
Government
Definitions
Authoritarian
Without
Extremes
Accusation
Assuming
Contest
Evidence
Contests

More quotes by Glenn Greenwald

Image
He's the President—it's the responsibility of every citizen to criticize aggressively when they think it's warranted.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
Incestuous, homogeneous fiefdoms of self-proclaimed expertise are always rank-closing and mutually self-defending, above all else.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
It's so much easier to debate people when you can pretend that they hold moronic position that they don't actually believe.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
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
Image
The term propaganda rings melodramatic and exaggerated, but a press that—whether from fear, careerism, or conviction—uncritically recites false government claims and reports them as fact, or treats elected officials with a reverence reserved for royalty, cannot be accurately described as engaged in any other function.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
As always with any discussion of elite immunity, it's crucial to note that what makes this development such a particularly warped travesty is that the very same elites who enjoy this immunity have created the world's largest, and the Western world's most oppressive and merciless, penal state for ordinary citizens.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
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.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
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.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
They're called 'facts', and my role is to amplify those, not cheerlead. And I don't care at all what you think of my motives.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
The War on Terror has been and continues to be, above all, a war on the most basic liberties and political safeguards that we're all taught are what distinguishes the US and keeps it free.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
The many pro-surveillance advocates I have debated since Snowden blew the whistle have been quick to echo [Google CEO] Eric Schmidt's view that privacy is for people who have something to hide. But none of them would willingly give me the passwords to their email accounts, or allow video cameras in their homes.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
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.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
The more fear confrontational activism can put into the heart of the political class, the better.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
Only In America can a renowned and devoted terrorism supporter like Peter King be the arbiter of national security and treason.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
[I]f you want instant, reflexive support for the US government's police and military powers, MSNBC is the place to turn these days.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
I don't have a 'side'—I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
What I do know is that Charlie Hebdo cartoonists have been converted into the closest thing the West has to religious-like martyrs in the war against radical Islam, which means that anything short of pure reverence for them generates tribal rage and vilification.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
Terrorism': the word that means nothing, yet justifies everything.
Glenn Greenwald
Image
Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations
Glenn Greenwald