Favourite quotes and seeds of thought.
Liberalism
From great article on acoup
persuasion and evangelism remain open options in a liberal society, indeed more open than in any other. And in a sense, the good morals and character of the people, their values, matter in a liberal society more than any other as well; liberalism need not be libertine unless we make it so. So often illiberal movements spring from a sort of moral cowardice, a failure of confidence that one’s ideas could win the contest of persuasion on a fair playing field, so one must resort to force or violence.
Makes me think of fear-mongering in non-democracies (note to self: read more M. Nussbaum)
Freedom of speech
Even if you have “nothing to hide” you might rely on someone who does.
Saying you dont need privacy because you dont have anything to hide is like saying you don’t need freedom of speech because you don’t have anything to say.
Libre software
It’s one of the greatest achievements of nerd crowd – software which is not only free of charge, but also protecting your freedoms. Possibly the only way we can avoid digital feudalism. See Digital autonomy.