Aaron Swartz to receive the James Madison Freedom of Information Award(thenextweb.com)
thenextweb.com
Aaron Swartz to receive the James Madison Freedom of Information Award
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/13/late-internet-activist-aaron-swartz-to-receive-the-james-madison-freedom-of-information-award-on-friday/?fromcat=all
6 comments
Is Spain we have a saying , literal translation: May god save you from the day of the praises.
And the governments, all around the world, love to give awards, street names and monuments but always after you die, even if in life they did nothing to help or protect you. They try to get points once you are not a problem or a nuisance for them.
Good saying.
http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Loves-When-Youre-Dead/dp/0061...
Once you're dead, you're no longer competition.
Once you're dead, you're no longer competition.
Did anything ever come of the Aaron Swartz White House petition?
Based on his love of Chomsky, I'm pretty sure Swartz hated the Madisonian vision of America.
incredibly insightful comment, deserves to be at the top
examples in support: "In public discussion, Madison spoke of the rights of minorities in general, but it is quite clear that he had a particular minority in mind "the minority of the opulent.""
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/ConsentPOP_Chom.ht...
"Chomsky: James Madison’s position at the Constitutional Convention was that state power should be used "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority."" http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-noa...
examples in support: "In public discussion, Madison spoke of the rights of minorities in general, but it is quite clear that he had a particular minority in mind "the minority of the opulent.""
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/ConsentPOP_Chom.ht...
"Chomsky: James Madison’s position at the Constitutional Convention was that state power should be used "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority."" http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-noa...
Posthumous accolades are nice, but you know what is nicer? Justice. Push to fix the injustice system that made him kill himself.
[deleted]
Too bad there is not an 'Anti' version of this award that could be sent to the appropriate offices of the State and National Offices Attorney General and the White House---all of whom have earned the negative recognition.
The Joseph V Stalin Award for Outstanding Work Advancing Authoritarianism. Has a certain ring to it, don't you think?
You probably meant that as a joke, but such an award exists. It is called Lenin Award. Let us see some people who got that award.
1. Indira Gandhi - The only PM of India. She got elected by malpractice and when the Court ruled against her she declared emergency in the country suspending democracy and putting all her opponents in jail.
Now that is just one name I am familiar with because I am from India but you can research on other recipients and draw the conclusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Peace_Prize
1. Indira Gandhi - The only PM of India. She got elected by malpractice and when the Court ruled against her she declared emergency in the country suspending democracy and putting all her opponents in jail.
Now that is just one name I am familiar with because I am from India but you can research on other recipients and draw the conclusion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Peace_Prize
Not all recipients of the rewards were autocratic leaders. Faiz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faiz_Ahmed_Faiz) was a poet, Nelson Madela received the award and
Aruna asaf ali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruna_Asaf_Ali) was an Indian freedom fighter.
I doubt any conclusion can be drawn just because the name of the prize is associated with an autocratic leader.
I doubt any conclusion can be drawn just because the name of the prize is associated with an autocratic leader.
I never claimed the award was for autocratic leaders exclusively, but if an autocratic leader had a chance of winning "Peace Prize" it was probably this award alone.
While I'm not a fan of that particular name, something in that spirit would be great.
Where was the government's honor for and protection of his efforts while he was living? Imagine how encouraging it might have been to him to have his efforts supported and meaningful change take place as a result. It's great that some legislation is being introduced to address some of this, but why so late and why the rogue DOJ in the first place? All of this happened because of the IDEAS expressed by this man. This should be scary to all Americans.
And, speaking of that, these are relatively minor intrusions into our freedoms compared to the wholly un-American Patriot Act. When will that be addressed? Kind of makes these legislative changes look like lipstick on a pig.
It is more than a little hypocritical that the same congress that abides the abhorrent assault on liberties that is the Patriot Act, is handing out "Freedom of Information" awards to anyone, let alone posthumously to a man who was unjustly prosecuted by the DOJ. The latter being arguably the primary beneficiary of the abuses enabled by that act.