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If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

jacquesmattheij.com

271–280 of 321 posts

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schmidt wasn't making a strong argument against privacy, he was discussing the relationship between using an online search engine and privacy. He was asked People are treating Google like their most trusted friend. Should they be? And responded with your quote, and a bit more. The context is harder to ridicule: I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be…

The context is easier to ridicule. He says it in explicit terms: Don't search for something you wouldn't want authorities to know about because we just may hand it over to them.

The reality is that what you do online is subject to seizure, exposure, and retaliation.

Knowing that reality helps people act accordingly.

I don't normally ridicule people for being forthright about reality.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal experiences in some of the cases you have mentioned. 2 times house break, both times I confronted the burglars with a kitchen knife and gave them an avenue to escape which they took. I would never want to kill someone because they tried take my property. It's just stuff and quite frankly I value human life much higher, even if it is the life of a criminal who is taking my things. The fact that there are s…

Is that the advice you'd give to a 5'5" woman who lives alone? "When the attacker gets in your house, grab a kitchen knife"? 'Cause I'd say, grab a shotgun and shoot in their general direction. Good for you that as a brave man called Rory it's easy to get rid of invaders with a kitchen knife. You'll probably have the same results with a fake knife.

> 'Cause I'd say, grab a shotgun and shoot in their general direction.

This is terrible advice.

The chance that you are the victim of a serial killer is so vanishingly small as to be not worth considering. Therefore if you have an intruder in your home, they are almost certainly after your property.

I would hope that any moral human being would not value property over a human being's life.

Therefore the best outcome which preserves human life is to simply let the intruder take your property and leave. They're almost certainly in a hurry to do so.

Involving a firearm escalates the situation unnecessarily and raises your own chances of death from very very unlikely to probably 50/50 (stat pulled from my butt).

If, on the other hand, you do believe that lethal force is justified to protect property then you have a miss aligned moral compass.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#273
post #196

Privacy is gone; it's a chimera. Let's focus on building a society where we use openness for the common good instead! E.g. don't let some people still try to hide because they consider themselves "special." Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

I agree. If governments can't protect their private information from being leaked by hackers and whistleblowers, what hope do the average person have? Adapt to changing circumstances rather than hold onto outdated concepts.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#274
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also naive to think yor gun can save you. Do you know where criminals guns? By taking them from people like you

Or other criminals, or a straw purchase, or buying them on the street, or buying via the "gun show" loophole. Truth be told, I have friends who went down "the wrong path" in life. I've got family that aren't exactly on the straight and narrow either, and a pistol can be had for a few hundred dollars on the street, no questions asked. To think that my owning a firearm is going to get me robbed is a flat out idiotic st…

> but my having a firearm is going to put me at a marked advantage over someone who doesn't

No, statistically speaking (and via simple logical deduction) it will dramatically increase the chance that a life (yours and/or your attackers) will end.

If you informed on the mob then, yes, you should be worried about getting murdered on the street, and you should probably carry.

Otherwise, that punk that pulls a knife on you just wants your wallet. Just hand it over and nobody dies that day (I'm assuming you don't value the contents of your wallet over a human beings life).

The statistics unequivocally point to guns reducing safety. I'm not usually a big fan of Jim Jeffries' comedy, but he does a great bit about gun control (NSFW link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl--YVnni0I

I'm in total agreement with Jeffries here. It's ok to like guns. Just drop the "it makes me safer to carry one, one day I'll stop a robbery, etc" nonsense. Be honest and say "fuck the statistics. I like guns. You can't stop me from owning one. Now piss off". It's much more intellectually honest.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#275
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that the advice you'd give to a 5'5" woman who lives alone? "When the attacker gets in your house, grab a kitchen knife"? 'Cause I'd say, grab a shotgun and shoot in their general direction. Good for you that as a brave man called Rory it's easy to get rid of invaders with a kitchen knife. You'll probably have the same results with a fake knife.

> 'Cause I'd say, grab a shotgun and shoot in their general direction. This is terrible advice. The chance that you are the victim of a serial killer is so vanishingly small as to be not worth considering. Therefore if you have an intruder in your home, they are almost certainly after your property. I would hope that any moral human being would not value property over a human being's life. Therefore the best outcome…

When a stranger is in my home at 3am while my spouse and two kids are upstairs sleeping, I won't risk judging what he/she will or will not do. Even if I were alone, I wouldn't take that chance. My intention is not to preserve "human life" but the lives of my family and myself.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#276
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Cause I'd say, grab a shotgun and shoot in their general direction. This is terrible advice. The chance that you are the victim of a serial killer is so vanishingly small as to be not worth considering. Therefore if you have an intruder in your home, they are almost certainly after your property. I would hope that any moral human being would not value property over a human being's life. Therefore the best outcome…

When a stranger is in my home at 3am while my spouse and two kids are upstairs sleeping, I won't risk judging what he/she will or will not do. Even if I were alone, I wouldn't take that chance. My intention is not to preserve "human life" but the lives of my family and myself.

> My intention is not to preserve "human life" but the lives of my family and myself.

The irony of course is that (statistically speaking) you would be vastly lowering you and your family's chances of surviving the event.

The chance that the intruder is there to murder you is ridiculously minuscule. It's so small that the people that do indiscriminately enter homes to murder get special nicknames like "Zodiac Killer" and Hollywood makes films about them.

Worrying about this type of intruder is irrational. Pulling a gun turns what is almost certainly a routine burglary into a life and death situation.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#277
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When a stranger is in my home at 3am while my spouse and two kids are upstairs sleeping, I won't risk judging what he/she will or will not do. Even if I were alone, I wouldn't take that chance. My intention is not to preserve "human life" but the lives of my family and myself.

> My intention is not to preserve "human life" but the lives of my family and myself. The irony of course is that (statistically speaking) you would be vastly lowering you and your family's chances of surviving the event. The chance that the intruder is there to murder you is ridiculously minuscule. It's so small that the people that do indiscriminately enter homes to murder get special nicknames like "Zodiac Killer"…

First, your statistics are moot.

As I just said, a statistic is still a risk. A risk I will not take when it comes to family. You play it your way; I'll play it mine.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#278
post #164
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on the state. Making blanket statements about guns in the US is simply ignorant and stupid. In NJ, for example, it's not even safe to move your guns when changing residences, let alone taking them out of the house at any other time for any other purpose (taking a handgun off your property is equal to committing robbery with it in the eyes of the law for example). There are some protections under the…

And this is persecution (in the meaningful sense) because ... why? Or are you changing the topic to complain about NJ gun laws? I mean, I'm from Florida. Moonshine is illegal in Florida. Even owning part of a still is illegal. Here's a report of someone charged with "among other counts, possession of more than a gallon of illegal liquor and possession of a still", which are "third-degree felonies, which carry a maxim…

Yes, this is persecution because possessing firearms is protected under the second amendment and moonshine production isn't. I have no idea what point you're trying to make.

Re: If you've nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear

#279
post #155
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on the state. Making blanket statements about guns in the US is simply ignorant and stupid. In NJ, for example, it's not even safe to move your guns when changing residences, let alone taking them out of the house at any other time for any other purpose (taking a handgun off your property is equal to committing robbery with it in the eyes of the law for example). There are some protections under the…

Yes, and I grew up in Florida where shooting off fireworks more exciting than sparklers and snakes, without a license, was illegal. As a loyal firework-American, I lived under the threat that my bootleg North Carolina bottlerockets could land me in jail. Many Americans have no legal way to practice the traditional craft of moonshine. There are penalties for getting caught with even a part of a still. In Florida it's…

This reply is just inane drivel.
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