As part of an information policy discussion with colleagues,
I encountered a good article from 2006 about conflicts
with public libraries by law enforcement agencies using the
so-called USA PATRIOT anti-terror act.
This is a classic case of freedom versus tyranny
in the view of the people who brought suit against the government,
which eventually backed out of the conflict.
Yet the interesting hyperlinked idea the article brought up was not the content
of the information, but the following quote attributed to Tom Paine,
an American revolutionary theorist and pamphleteer:
"O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! "
The quote in context is from Tom Paine, Common Sense O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her.--Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
from an Internet version:Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.
Many people say thay are for freedom, and against tyranny.
Tom Paine forces us to confront the truth that
tyranny is the force field set up by real tyrants.
So if you are really against tyranny,
you will find yourself in opposition to actual tyrants.
And these are times that try men's souls. (Thomas Paine, from pamphlet "The Crisis, No. 1")
Tyrants are fearsome, yet they can be defeated, and shall be overcome.
If tyranny is the force field set up by real tyrants,
then real freedom is the force field set up by free people.
May we all strive to be free.