# Freedom's Just Another Word for Getting Away with Something **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 5, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedoms-just-another-word-for-getting-away-with-something/832078 "2019-04-05T10:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedoms-just-another-word-for-getting-away-with-something/832078/81 "2019-04-09T11:02:58Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > The idea of the transparent society is that openness goes two ways. We can’t avoid being recorded whenever we venture out into public, or interact with electronic media or sales technology; but we can also strive to ensure that our own governments are open to scrutiny as well. This is already happening- every public figure and government action is closely examined in today’s climate in a way that was not possible when I was a child in the 1950s. But these atrocities aren’t secrets. In many cases, they’re being done publicly with popular support. More transparency on the part of the government isn’t helpful here. More transparency on the part of the individual citizens means that LGBT people can’t stay closeted to avoid being targets for extermination. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedoms-just-another-word-for-getting-away-with-something/832078/82 "2019-04-09T11:10:05Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > This will become increasingly true in the next century or so. Bigots and tyrants won’t be able to do their dirty work in secret any more, because there will always be someone listening. Or are you anticipating that we will develop ‘compassion fatigue’ and become cynical and callous? What “develop”? Do you truly think that your country’s news dedicate equal time to every missing person’s case? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedoms-just-another-word-for-getting-away-with-something/832078/83 "2019-04-09T12:24:37Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Of course I knew about these things - one of my best friends is a Yemeni. We cannot allow these things to occur in secret any more. Is that what you want- to cover these things up. like the way the Holocaust was concealed until near the end of the war? If everyone in the world had know about the gassing of people at Auschwitz from 1941 when it first started it wouldn’t have made a goddamned bit of difference. It was deep in Nazi-held territory and the Allies would still have had to fight through the intervening territory to get there. Some people just frickin’ wouldn’t have cared - there are always callous or bigoted people. It’s not like the Nazis were seen as warm and fuzzy people before those atrocities were known. The folks who approve of the genocide of this or that group are sometimes even _proud_ of what they do and make no effort to hide it. Something like the Holocaust doesn’t happen because it’s done in secret, it’s done because one group of humans have decided to kill another group of humans, and if the relative power of the aggressive group is sufficiently greater than that of the target group exposure won’t do a damn thing to stop it. All that greater transparency and lack of privacy would do is make it even easier for the aggressor group to root out and slaughter the target group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freedoms-just-another-word-for-getting-away-with-something/832078.md?page=4)