Philosophy
Whatever our feelings about Edward Snowden as a person are, and what his actions say about him (hero, traitor, whistleblower, responsible citizen, opportunist, guy who couldn't figure out how to break up with his girlfriend, cosmopolitan visionary, etc.), the fact is that he started a discussion concerning important issues that are worth exploring, thinking and talking about.
And there's no denying that even the most extreme views have something valuable to say about this issue, even when they're too narrow and single-minded to encompass the full range of complexity and subtleties regarding questions concerning national security, privacy rights, constitutional principles, democracy, free speech, power dynamics, political manipulation, government and corporate abuses of power, due process, etc. So, in an effort to get this conversation going, TED invited Snowden to share some of his views, thoughts and knowledge on the activities conducted by the NSA and what they mean for the future of democracy, national security and the relationship between the government and the people.
And, for some balance, TED also invited a representative from the NSA to respond:
- The 2nd Amendment, Military Spending, And Abortion: A Curious Conservative Conundrum
Contemporary American conservatism has a deep commitment to originalism as a means of interpreting the Constitution. We need to understand the words of the Constitution, they argue, in the sense that they were intended by the framers. The Constitution...
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As Bush attempts to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that includes what amount to permanent bases and immunity from prosecution for US troops and contractors, one realizes that even the person who spent so much time trying to trumpet the...
- Ramesh Ponnuru Is An Asshole (in The Technical Sense Of The Word--personally, He's Most Likely A Nice Fellow, Never Met Him So I Can't Really Say)
Jon Stewart's interview last night with Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review editor and author of Party of Death, was magnificent. One of the points he so wonderfully put forward is that anyone using hyperbolic rhetoric and claiming that difficult moral...
- The Tyranny Of The Empire
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith raises numerous questions about the state and future of our country today, as well as invoking themes from Plato?s Republic in its critical analysis of our government and domestic policies. The symbolism and imagery...
- Lawrence Lessig - We The People, And The Republic We Must Reclaim
The grand Enlightenment experiment in political self-rule and representative democracy that the United States was supposed to embody was dealt a potentially fatal blow some years ago with the Citizens United decision. Despite the rhetoric about free speech...
Philosophy
Edward Snowden - Here's How We Take Back the Internet
And there's no denying that even the most extreme views have something valuable to say about this issue, even when they're too narrow and single-minded to encompass the full range of complexity and subtleties regarding questions concerning national security, privacy rights, constitutional principles, democracy, free speech, power dynamics, political manipulation, government and corporate abuses of power, due process, etc. So, in an effort to get this conversation going, TED invited Snowden to share some of his views, thoughts and knowledge on the activities conducted by the NSA and what they mean for the future of democracy, national security and the relationship between the government and the people.
And, for some balance, TED also invited a representative from the NSA to respond:
- The 2nd Amendment, Military Spending, And Abortion: A Curious Conservative Conundrum
Contemporary American conservatism has a deep commitment to originalism as a means of interpreting the Constitution. We need to understand the words of the Constitution, they argue, in the sense that they were intended by the framers. The Constitution...
- What Are The Necessary Conditions For Democracy?
As Bush attempts to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that includes what amount to permanent bases and immunity from prosecution for US troops and contractors, one realizes that even the person who spent so much time trying to trumpet the...
- Ramesh Ponnuru Is An Asshole (in The Technical Sense Of The Word--personally, He's Most Likely A Nice Fellow, Never Met Him So I Can't Really Say)
Jon Stewart's interview last night with Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review editor and author of Party of Death, was magnificent. One of the points he so wonderfully put forward is that anyone using hyperbolic rhetoric and claiming that difficult moral...
- The Tyranny Of The Empire
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith raises numerous questions about the state and future of our country today, as well as invoking themes from Plato?s Republic in its critical analysis of our government and domestic policies. The symbolism and imagery...
- Lawrence Lessig - We The People, And The Republic We Must Reclaim
The grand Enlightenment experiment in political self-rule and representative democracy that the United States was supposed to embody was dealt a potentially fatal blow some years ago with the Citizens United decision. Despite the rhetoric about free speech...