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That statement just excuses any authority to do what they want. A despotic dictatorship would be absolutely fine for people to repeat 'accepting the consequences of your actions' so that if anything horrible happens to someone it is not okay to criticise the authority on what they did because they are not 'accepting the consequences of their actions'. This simply excuses anyone in power doing anything to any dissenter.

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If you commit crimes like Assange, claim you did so in the public interest, and then hide from the consequences, you are merely a criminal. If you commit crimes like Martin Luther King Jr, claim you did so in the public interest, and then sit in jail and let the public see your suffering in the face of injustice, you are a civili dissident. Assange is a whiny criminal, not a hero.

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