Some information is classified legitimately; as with military hardware, secrecy sometimes really is in the national interest. Further, military, political, and intelligence communities tend to value secrecy for its own sake. It's a way of silencing critics and evading responsibility - for incompetence or worse. It generates an elite, a band of brothers in whom the national confidence can be reliably vested, unlike the great mass of citizenry on whose behalf the information is presumably made secret in the first place. With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. Carl Sagan
About This Quote

When information is classified legitimately, it is typically for the purpose of protecting the interests of the people who are part of the government. These secrets can be used to gain an advantage over other countries or groups. Sometimes, the secrets are used to protect the country from its own citizens or military personnel. This can lead to a dangerous situation where information is classified by people who do not have the best intentions for the nation.

When secrets are kept simply to protect the government's interests, there is no way that it can be released to the people who need to know it. As far back as 1988, declassifying information was considered at least as important as keeping it secret. There are still cases where information should not be made public because it could lead to great harm or death for other people.

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  3. The world, viewed philosophically, remains a series of slave camps, where citizens — tax livestock — labor under the chains of illusion in the service of their masters. - Stefan Molyneux
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More Quotes By Carl Sagan
  1. Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.
  2. The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.
  3. The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us -- there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a...
  4. A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.
  5. We are star stuff harvesting sunlight.
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