• @habitualTartare
    link
    642 months ago

    The origin of the quote is not Goebbels.

    Someone else has traced the quotation to a novel by Upton Sinclair in The Profits of Religion (do a books.google.com search for the phrase and you will find it.

    In short, it is highly unlikely that Goebbels said this. As is usually the case with such quotations, no one who cites it provides a source.

    Randall Bytwerk, expert in Nazi propaganda (Prof. Randall Bytwerk)

    https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/30683/is-if-you-have-nothing-to-hide-you-have-nothing-to-fear-a-line-used-by-joseph#40126

  • @TheDemonBuer
    link
    342 months ago

    It really comes down to trust, or the lack thereof. People don’t trust their governments and governments don’t trust their people. I think this mistrust originates from governments so often being imposed on the people, rather than the government being subordinate to the people. If the government were truly subordinate to the people, I don’t think privacy would be nearly as much of a concern.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      322 months ago

      This makes sense on the face of it, but trust is fleeting. Let’s say we do establish trust in a democratically elected government and allow them to ‘violate’ our privacy for the common good. Who’s to say the next elected representatives are just as trustworthy? If the laws and systems we create allow for violation of privacy in the long term they will be abused at some point.

      • @TheDemonBuer
        link
        42 months ago

        Well, I think there’s much more to making a government subordinate to its people than just electing representatives, especially if our options for representation are limited. I’m talking about a more radical departure from the status quo, about making the people the ultimate authority.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          122 months ago

          Not sure how that works exactly but I’ll still want my privacy from “the people.” if there is the potential for abuse there will be abuse, I’d rather limit the data leak right at the source.

          • @TheDemonBuer
            link
            32 months ago

            I’m not necessarily opposed to privacy rights, but it would ultimately be the government that would have to enforce those rights, so how do you ensure that the government adequately enforces your privacy rights and that there isn’t any possibility for abuse?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              12 months ago

              It will always be a battle. Any form of government will always want access to your data. The biggest danger is complacency. If it gets to the point where the majority don’t even care about privacy all is lost.

    • Gabe BellOP
      link
      English
      42 months ago

      Is it just the government?

      I am trying to think if your neighbours would rat you out to other groups.

      Having seen how “the gentlemen of the press” behave, I can easily believe there are people who would guard their privacy jealously to protect themselves from the feckless bastards who are “brave crusaders for justice and freedom”.

      Nothing to do with the government. Nothing to do with breaking the law, or even coming close. Just because they have no desire to see their lives on the front pages of every paper and their personal lives made so much fodder for the public.

    • @shalafi
      link
      English
      192 months ago

      Plowed all 41 books last year. Damn. Sometimes I’d have to put the book down and think on a thing or two. There were also a couple of times I had to put one down because I couldn’t stop laughing.

      Never read anything that had me in true awe of the author. Stephen King blows me away with his realistic characters and dialog, but Pratchett was next level on everything.

      How could a single mind contain so much?!

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        132 months ago

        He was on a lot of issues waaay before the zeitgeist caught up with him. He has a whole book on trans rights in a world with codified gender norms (Monstrous Regiment) published in 2003, years before that was on anyone’s radar.

  • Krydex
    link
    fedilink
    212 months ago

    Who would you be more suspicious of? A neighbor who always keeps their blinds closed? Or the neighbor who always peeks out of their window?

    • @GraniteM
      link
      142 months ago

      Or the neighbor who always peeks out of their window? who insists that they must be allowed to stick a periscope through everyone’s blinds and have a look around?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      52 months ago

      I dunno. I wouldn’t make assumptions and would keep my wifi password secure and keep my blinds closed either way.

    • Gabe BellOP
      link
      English
      12 months ago

      I always keep my curtains closed. But that’s just because my front room is a mess and I can’t be arsed tidying it.

  • @lugal
    link
    192 months ago

    If the NSA has nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear from Snowden

    • @arin
      link
      English
      52 months ago

      Proper uno reverse

  • @cosmicrookie
    link
    182 months ago

    Upton Sinclair also referenced a similar argument in his book The Profits of Religion, published in 1917 :

    Not merely was my own mail opened, but the mail of all my relatives and friends — people residing in places as far apart as California and Florida. I recall the bland smile of a government official to whom I complained about this matter: “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.” My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the methods of the agent provocateur. He is quite willing to take real evidence if he can find it; but if not, he has familiarized himself with the affairs of his victim, and can make evidence which will be convincing when exploited by the yellow press.[2]

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    172 months ago

    my friend who is ex military, has a smart house built around amazon Alexa said he had nothing to hide, when i rebuffed with how that phrase has nazi ties he’d gone white.

    propaganda is an amazingly powerful thing all you need is a catchy sentence and itll will be repeated years after.

  • arthurpizza
    link
    English
    162 months ago

    Everyone closes the bathroom door when they poop.

  • DessertStorms
    link
    fedilink
    142 months ago

    I don’t know about the quote in question, but I do find it quite absurd when people still feel the need to distance the American government from the Nazis, when it is a well documented fact that the actions of the former inspired and shaped the latter with systems that either still exist in one form or another, or have left a horrific legacy (Native American reservations, the prison industrial complex, racial wealth gaps, to name a few off the top of my head).

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    132 months ago

    I usually ask if they also shit with the door open on a public restroom, since they got nothing to hide.

  • LoudWaterHombre
    link
    fedilink
    13
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    OK so I’m a privacy advocate. I’m pro privacy, pro simplicity and accessibility for none techies. I’m pro Snowden and everything.

    But,

    there is no evidence for this attribution. You can often find it in reader comments and on social media with the source: “Goebbels, speech on the introduction of the GeStaPo 1933”. There was no such speech, nor was there an “Introduktion der Gestapo”, an expression that is completely unusual in German.

    Edit: I actually found the interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flej-73VLW8) but can’t even find the spot where he’s actually making the claim seen in the picture. What the fuck is this???

    • Gabe BellOP
      link
      English
      -72 months ago

      I think you are focusing on the wrong part of the post if that is your takeaway from it.

      • LoudWaterHombre
        link
        fedilink
        152 months ago

        No if it’s misinformation trying to sell a feeling rather than facts it’s actually the right thing to focus on. As I said, it’s not like I’m defending the argument, that you have nothing to hide yada yada, I’m not the guy that needs convincing, I’m already trying to convince others.

        • Gabe BellOP
          link
          English
          -42 months ago

          He goes on to say that privacy is the foundation of all other rights.

          Also the actual idea that “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” is bullshit seems to be quite importance.

          Whether you realise it or not, you are implying that because he got the source of the quote wrong, everything else he said is not worth listening to. That somehow he is invalidated as a source for EVERYTHING HE SAYS because of this one thing.

          Which most peoplew ould fundametnally disagree with.

          • LoudWaterHombre
            link
            fedilink
            10
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Well I already said multiple times, I’m not arguing against privacy, but the fact this whole post wraps around “i didnt know the origin of the quote” and its not only false but also he apparently didn’t even make that claim in the first place is baffling to me. There are one million and two good arguments for privacy and against the stupidity of the nothing to hide reply, but spreading emotionally manipulative misinformation to create an artificial feeling of a deadbeat argument is not the right approach.

            I don’t get why you put so much effort into shifting the view away from half the content of the post instead of just admitting to misinformation or sending sources. There are people out there that see text on a picture with, Snowden interview in the back and actually think it’s legit information. It’s necessary to highlight fact from fiction so people don’t get a wrong sense of reality, which is a problem we are currently facing across the globe.

            my friend who is ex military, has a smart house built around amazon Alexa said he had nothing to hide, when i rebuffed with how that phrase has nazi ties he’d gone white.

            propaganda is an amazingly powerful thing all you need is a catchy sentence and itll will be repeated years after.

            Just look at this comment from @[email protected]

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              22 months ago

              the quite had been used by authoritarian regimes, as i understand it the Nazi’s didn’t use the direct quite as they don’t speak English and things don’t translate but they did say and depict similar sentiments.

              not to say your wrong as your not just saying that using Nazis as a vehicle to get the point across isn’t completely dishonest, usually best to use a more broad approach like “authoritarian regimes” rather than Nazis

              • LoudWaterHombre
                link
                fedilink
                12 months ago

                There is no evidence of this speech nor of Göbbels coining the phrase in any way. It’s not a language barrier problem.

            • Gabe BellOP
              link
              English
              -32 months ago

              Because it is one phrase in one part of one frame of the entire post.

              Yeah it’s wrong. Plenty of people have pointed it out already (you appear to have read the entire thread so you cannot have missed the fact other people have pointed it out as well).

              But, as I said, to suggest that that is the most important part of the interview – he fucked up and that is ALL WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO – is… just wrong. It is, quite frankly, something the NSA would have us to do discredit everything else he says.

              Also there are quotes from three or four other people in the entire length of the post. All of which I am pretty sure are accurately sourced. Unless you think Terry Pratchett stole his work from Stalin.

              • LoudWaterHombre
                link
                fedilink
                5
                edit-2
                2 months ago

                It’s actually two frames and the title of the entire post that points to this conclusion, so yeah… Why are you coming at me with these straw man arguments that the NSA would and take into consideration I believe Terry Pratchett stole from Stalin. What does that have to so with the fact that the claim is neither correct 'nor did he actually say that in the interview.

                I have not read every comment, but I’m thrilled seeing your debate there. I’m going to look into it.

                Edit: Haha “plenty of people” dude why are you so butthurt and offended about it?

  • @Keineanung
    link
    122 months ago

    Uhhhh, I fucking looove Discworld! GNU Terry Pratchett.

  • @antidote101
    link
    122 months ago

    Piracy is the foundation of all other rights - that’s a good line.

    • @Leg
      link
      42 months ago

      Yar, now that be a truth fer all ears!

  • I Cast Fist
    link
    fedilink
    102 months ago

    Easy way to shut up any idiot: If you got nothing to hide, gimme all your passwords, also all the info on your credit cards.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      92 months ago

      Don’t forget to pinky promise that you will not do anything bad with those information and you will keep it secure.