5 ms·

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. - Cardinal De Richelieu. Regarding y

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him. - Cardinal De Richelieu. Regarding your latter point, re. self-determination, I'll try a stab at making it more relatable. Let me know if this approaches that ineffable problem. Our presentation of ourselves is essentially plastic; with few exceptions, changing social or temporal variables change our self-expression. We do not act around our family as we would around our colleagues or around our close friends. We did not act as a child as we did as a teenager, or young adult, or elder. It is socially acceptable and even expected to modify "who you are" to fit the situation you are in. The internet and mass surveillance has crystallized that plastic nature. You are not just the person you are now, but also the person you were ten years ago. You are not just the person in front of your employer or parent, but also whoever you are to your friends or romantic partners. You are no longer allowed to pick and choose how to represent yourself to another person; your entire history is available for their perusal. The best representatives for the downside of this, I think, are teens. Everyone can remember stupid things they said or did as a teenager, and for the first time, none of that history will ever be erased. The words you spoke at one of the most irresponsible and impulsive parts of your life will forever be a Sword of Damocles hanging above your head. (Oddly enough, I think this is not, fundamentally, an awful thing, but for the fact that social understanding has not advanced past the monkey-brain thinking that the perusing in front of you will act according to the sum of information you have about them. In the old days, you would see that they were a decent enough worker and that would be it. But now you know they like to, I don't know, drink a lot or smoke weed in their own time and that colors everything else about them in your eyes. I can't help but feel that within a few generations the old way of thinking will die out, by necessity if nothing else, but agree that for the present it represents a significant problem)

smsm42 8y ago
> Cardinal De Richelieu. They key here is that the Cardinal can hang virtually anybody just by willing to do so. The justification is secondary, just for appearances' sake - if the Cardinal wants somebody hanged, they'll hang (unless they find a more powerful ally, of course), and "finding something" is just a formality, like signing the documents in proper places with proper name. Wielding this power is the key, and that key would decide whether your past words would be your doom or a justifiable youthful digression. If you look at how it happens, you can see the power currents of the society the same way you can see the magnetic field lines by watching metal dust affected by it.

smsm42 8y ago

> Cardinal De Richelieu. They key here is that the Cardinal can hang virtually anybody just by willing to do so. The justification is secondary, just for appearances' sake - if the Cardinal wants somebody hanged, they'll hang (unless they find a more powerful ally, of course), and "finding something" is just a formality, like signing the documents in proper places with proper name. Wielding this power is the key, and that key would decide whether your past words would be your doom or a justifiable youthful digression. If you look at how it happens, you can see the power currents of the society the same way you can see the magnetic field lines by watching metal dust affected by it.