On: Julian Assange on Bill Maher last night [video]

[philwelch]

I think if you're selectively leaking and editorializing things, it makes sense to question whether your agenda is good or bad.

[freshhawk → philwelch]

And I was trying to point out that the idea of agenda's being entirely "good" or "bad" is childish.

[philwelch → freshhawk]

Well if you're going to play the moral relativism game, I guess none of this shit matters anyway.

[freshhawk → philwelch]

So it's either "the good folk vs the evildoers" or complete moral relativism?

No concept of an interplay between transparency/civil rights and security? No room for disagreement between people who value both but disagree about the relative worth of these goals when applied to a specific circumstance?

As I said before: childish.

[philwelch → freshhawk]

It's funny. You're arranging words in a seemingly meaningful pattern, but when I parse it, you aren't saying anything at all other than calling me childish.

You can disagree with someone about a moral question, but the only way you can both be right is through moral relativism. Otherwise, one person is doing the right thing and the other person is doing the wrong thing even though they think it's right. I wouldn't use the words "good and evil" because they have a bit of a manichean connotation to them, but if you take the plain, everyday meanings of "good and bad", they make sense in this context, and what you're saying doesn't.