OF THE
TIMES
It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the Truth and expose lies.My book, The Wizards of Ozymandias, was dedicated "To the memory and spirit of Sophie and Hans Scholl and the White Rose, who reminded us what it means to be civilized." These wonderful young people - most in their teens or twenties - lived in Germany during the Hitler regime, and spent much of their time writing and distributing leaflets exposing and criticizing the policies and practices of the Nazi state. They were found out; brought to trial; found guilty of treason, the demoralization of the troops, and abetting the enemy, and summarily beheaded. Sophie's Gestapo interrogator raises the same arguments one hears directed against such modern speakers of truth as Chelsea Manning, Ed Snowden, Julian Assange, Glenn Greenwald, and others. Those whose moral and intellectual standards can rise no higher than to whine "the law is the law," would do well to consider the exchange between Sophie and her prosecutor. The Nazi functionary declares: "Without law, there is no order. What can we rely on if not the law?" Sophie responds: "Your conscience. Laws change. Conscience doesn't."
- Noam Chomsky
Comment: Who is Manuel Valls? France's Socialist Sarkozy