2011-11-17
Explanation
This comic, titled "It Cuts Both Ways," makes a pointed argument about the symmetry of the "nothing to hide" defense. In the first panel, a government official in sunglasses and a suit declares, "If you'''re not doing anything bad, you have no reason to fear government censorship." This is a common refrain used to justify surveillance and restrictions on speech -- the idea that only wrongdoers need worry about government oversight.
In the second panel, the comic flips the argument on its head. A woman responds with the mirror-image statement: "If you'''re not doing anything bad, you have no reason to fear free speech." The joke lies in the perfect logical inversion. The same reasoning that governments use to justify censorship can be turned around to argue against it. If the government truly has nothing to hide, then unfettered public criticism and free expression should pose no threat to it.
The comic highlights a fundamental asymmetry in how the "nothing to hide" argument is typically deployed -- always by those in power to justify restricting the freedoms of those below them, but never applied reflexively to those in power themselves. By showing that the logic cuts both ways, Weinersmith exposes the self-serving nature of the original argument.