man is principle

Armani 2022-04-19 09:02:35

Burnside said: "It wasn't long ago that I started to feel the human pressure from the Rachel Armstrong case, and I told her I was representing her as a person, not her principles. It wasn't until I saw her again that I realized: For truly great people, there is no difference at all between the individual and the principle. (Some time ago, I began to feel the personal human pressure on Rachel Armstrong, and I told her that I was there to represent her , and not a principle. And it was not until I met her , that I realized that with great people , there's no difference between principle and the person)

A person is different from others by having different principles. Ordinary people, without clear principles, often have different choices in different environments, and they will be vague and confused. As a result, people with firm beliefs can be called "amazing".

The reason why a great man is great is inseparable from his principles. The core of his personality is those principles that cannot be abandoned. It was those principles he adhered to that made him who he was.

This is a simple equivalent substitution understanding of "people are the principle".

However, when Burnside said this at this time, the meaning did not stop at praising Rachel.

The deeper meaning is to throw out the concept of "people are principles".

From the perspective of a person, as mentioned above, a person's personality consists of the principles he adheres to. And when used as an object, such as in Burnside's perspective, at first I thought he represented Rachel, not a principle, but later found that the two were the same.

In other words, it will be well understood.

For example, everyone is discussing what exactly is Rachel protecting?

Is she protecting specific people? Are you still upholding professional ethics?

My answer is: both.

Protecting informants is adhering to the principles of this profession. Both are the same.

People are principles.

By extension, what makes a democratic government a democratic government? That is to say, each specific person is protected. The ultimate end of every principle, every constitution, is a concrete individual.

Taking human rights as the foundation should be the highest principle of a government.


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Nothing But the Truth quotes

  • Alan Burnside: [In front of the Supreme Court] In 1972 in Branzburg v. Hayes this Court ruled against the right of reporters to withhold the names of their sources before a grand jury, and it gave the power to the Government to imprison those reporters who did. It was a 5-4 decision, close. In his dissent in Branzburg, Justice Stewart said, 'As the years pass, power of Government becomes more and more pervasive. Those in power,' he said, 'whatever their politics, want only to perpetuate it, and the people are the victims.' Well, the years have passed, and that power is pervasive. Mrs. Armstrong could have buckled to the demands of the Government; she could've abandoned her promise of confidentiality; she could've simply gone home to her family. But to do so, would mean that no source would ever speak to her again, and no source would ever speak to her newspaper again. And then tomorrow when we lock up journalists from other newspapers we'll make those publications irrelevant as well, and thus we'll make the First Amendment irrelevant. And then how will we know if a President has covered up crimes or if an army officer has condoned torture? We as a nation will no longer be able to hold those in power accountable to those whom they have power over. And what then is the nature of Government when it has no fear of accountability? We should shudder at the thought. Imprisoning journalists? That's for other countries; that's for countries who fear their citizens - not countries that cherish and protect them. Some time ago, I began to feel the personal, human pressure on Rachel Armstrong and I told her that I was there to represent her and not her principle. And it was not until I met her that I realized that with great people there's no difference between principle and the person.

  • Dubois: Now for some reason, you don't reveal your source, you'll be held in contempt. And that means jail time. And we're not talking about some sort of a Martha Stewart cell with a butler nonsense.