Secrecy suppresses knowledge, enforcing historical amnesia.

Evidence

By controlling their own records, and purging them, and cutting all the interesting parts out of them, they are forcing a state of amnesia on a whole country—on us—so that we don’t know what we as a purportedly self-governing nation did. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1085

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1085
• XREF: connects to: Secrecy in warfare enables atrocities on various scales. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 233; Name redaction prevents the understanding of historical events. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 920; Suppressed knowledge allows the myth of American decency to endure. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1087 (+17 more)

Library Connections

• Absence of FOIA hinders truth preservation, not just its presence. #exemplifies (0.90) — David E Pozen; Michael Schudson, Troubling Transparency- The History and…, 765
• Suppressed knowledge allows the myth of American decency to endure. #exemplifies (0.85) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1087

Broader Connections

• Institutional honesty is often compromised to preserve the status quo. #corroborates (0.80) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1134
• Mechanized knowledge creates monopolies that endanger freedom of thought #corroborates (0.75) — Harold Innis, The Bias of Communication, 1123
• Legal discovery rules exist to prevent trials from being contests of concealment #expands (0.70) — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2903
• Colonial archives hide a hierarchy of credibility weighing whose witness counted. #expands (0.70)
• Preserving silence paradoxically requires inviting people into it #complicates (0.65) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 1704
• Knowledge-versus-ignorance categories protect present-day readers from self-implication #expands (0.65)
• Colonial knowing relied on inattention and adverted gazes more than surveillance #corroborates (0.60)