
Aaron Swartz to receive the James Madison Freedom of Information Award - iProject
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/13/late-internet-activist-aaron-swartz-to-receive-the-james-madison-freedom-of-information-award-on-friday/?fromcat=all
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unclebucknasty
Is it me, or is there something offensive about this being awarded
posthumously? It reminds me of how people are vilified while living, but
celebrated as soon as they pass.

Where was the government's honor for and protection of his efforts while he
was living? Imagine how encouraging it might have been to him to have his
efforts supported and meaningful change take place as a result. It's great
that some legislation is being introduced to address some of this, but why so
late and why the rogue DOJ in the first place? All of this happened because of
the IDEAS expressed by this man. This should be scary to all Americans.

And, speaking of that, these are relatively minor intrusions into our freedoms
compared to the wholly un-American Patriot Act. When will that be addressed?
Kind of makes these legislative changes look like lipstick on a pig.

It is more than a little hypocritical that the same congress that abides the
abhorrent assault on liberties that is the Patriot Act, is handing out
"Freedom of Information" awards to anyone, let alone posthumously to a man who
was unjustly prosecuted by the DOJ. The latter being arguably the primary
beneficiary of the abuses enabled by that act.

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ghostDancer
Is Spain we have a saying , literal translation: May god save you from the day
of the praises. And the governments, all around the world, love to give
awards, street names and monuments but always after you die, even if in life
they did nothing to help or protect you. They try to get points once you are
not a problem or a nuisance for them.

~~~
unclebucknasty
Good saying.

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cma
Based on his love of Chomsky, I'm pretty sure Swartz hated the Madisonian
vision of America.

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adrianbye
incredibly insightful comment, deserves to be at the top

examples in support: "In public discussion, Madison spoke of the rights of
minorities in general, but it is quite clear that he had a particular minority
in mind "the minority of the opulent.""

[http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/ConsentPOP_Chom.ht...](http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/ConsentPOP_Chom.html)

"Chomsky: James Madison’s position at the Constitutional Convention was that
state power should be used "to protect the minority of the opulent against the
majority."" [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-
noa...](http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-noam-chomsky-
the-united-states-has-essentially-a-one-party-system-a-583454.html)

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mahmud
Posthumous accolades are nice, but you know what is nicer? Justice. Push to
fix the injustice system that made him kill himself.

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hsmyers
Too bad there is not an 'Anti' version of this award that could be sent to the
appropriate offices of the State and National Offices Attorney General and the
White House---all of whom have earned the negative recognition.

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CapitalistCartr
The Joseph V Stalin Award for Outstanding Work Advancing Authoritarianism. Has
a certain ring to it, don't you think?

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tn13
You probably meant that as a joke, but such an award exists. It is called
Lenin Award. Let us see some people who got that award.

1\. Indira Gandhi - The only PM of India. She got elected by malpractice and
when the Court ruled against her she declared emergency in the country
suspending democracy and putting all her opponents in jail.

Now that is just one name I am familiar with because I am from India but you
can research on other recipients and draw the conclusion.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin_Peace_Prize>

~~~
sid6376
Not all recipients of the rewards were autocratic leaders. Faiz
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faiz_Ahmed_Faiz>) was a poet, Nelson Madela
received the award and Aruna asaf ali
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruna_Asaf_Ali>) was an Indian freedom fighter.

I doubt any conclusion can be drawn just because the name of the prize is
associated with an autocratic leader.

~~~
tn13
I never claimed the award was for autocratic leaders exclusively, but if an
autocratic leader had a chance of winning "Peace Prize" it was probably this
award alone.

