Musings. Teachings. Ing-ings.
Posts tagged censorship
Gag yourself and pay attention…
1917 days
by Chris
in Commentary
Isn’t it amazing what gets media attention and what doesn’t — and when?
You might have noticed that the terrible, terrible “Ground Zero Mosque” is no longer in the news. I guess all of that stirred up intolerance and hate is no longer necessary after an election passes… but I digress.
Considering I saw a story yesterday on the local news about turkeys crossing the road, it is sort of surprising to me that this isn’t deemed important enough to reach the general public. The internet is currently the biggest source of free, unchained information on the planet. It is possible to find everything from literary research to recipes and absolutely everything in between. One of the reasons for this is that anyone can upload to the internet and no one can claim control over it. Everything exists on the internet because it is allowed to. There is no censorship here, at least not at the mechanical level.
For that, the internet is great. While it has only been around in its modern form for two decades now, it has impacted our culture immensely. It gives freedom to anyone who has a connection to it. This vast global network has even aided in political elections and revolutions. Would the green revolution in Iran have been noticed if the internet wasn’t there? Would we be informed about what our military is doing in the middle east?
So then, how does a small bill to prevent copyright infringement threaten that?
Imagine for a second that a blog with political content, such as mine, posts a video of the government doing something wrong. It doesn’t matter what really, use your imagination — the point is that it upsets someone with power. Theoretically, it would be possible (using the powers within this bill) to completely shut my site down if any unchecked “copyrighted content” was anywhere on my site. It may seem illogical for me to have such things on my site in the first place, but consider that technically a song used in the background of a YouTube video is copyrighted content. It can only exist in the movies due to technical loopholes in the law. With enough legal fire-power, an argument against specific content could be made in court.
We don’t even have to go that far to see the possible impact of the bill, however.
YouTube, Soundcloud, Vimeo, Dropbox, Mediafire, Rapidshare and any other content sharing sites would either be shut down or censored strongly. Given the main proponents behind the bill, any websites dealing with torrents or file sharing in general would be completely decimated. What gives the United States government the authority to censor the internet — a global thing that connects hundreds of millions outside the US? What about the many legitimate uses for these services?
Let’s face it: Legislature like this is terrifying. Regardless of the wording, it forces ISPs to comply with the government in censorship. There is no sugar coating it.
The ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology, EFF, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders have all expressed serious concern over this piece of legislation. Is it not telling to anyone else that this bill is being pushed through under our noses? Or that the original bill was supposed to sneak through in just 10 days?
Get the word out.
If this passes, we all lose.
Celebrating banned books
2970 days
September 25th to October 2nd is banned books week — a campaign that primarily celebrates banned books in America.
I’m sure such things seem silly to a lot of people. Why celebrate banned books?
Well, because the censorship of information is something that despite our jingoistic cries of freedom, we still live with. Every year a list is compiled of the top 10 most contested books in America — and while many more are challenged, the top of the pack gives us a cross-section of what we (as a culture) refuse to accept. Unsurprisingly, homosexuality and sexuality in general are at the top of this list.
Of course, this topic also has local ties as this past year a book was contested (and banned) in a local school system as well as the county library chain. The book in contention? Revolutionary Voices, by Amy Sonnie — an award winning anthology of stories focusing on gay, bisexual and transgendered youth. While the book had been in the system for a number of years, it was banned after complaints were filed against it by members of Glenn Beck’s 9.12 project, a conservative-leaning activist group.
The book was apparently targeted for being “pornographic” and “pervasively vulgar, obscene, and inappropriate” by members of the group, and thus they wanted it to be removed from Rancocas Valley’s High School library. This eventually chained into the book being complained about (and subsequently removed) from the Burlington County library system.
While this all happened a few months ago, I feel like it deserves to be pulled back into the light, given the “celebratory” week.
First off, my support of the book (or of any books being censored) is not just to be controversial. We live in a country that praises freedom (or at least claims to) and thus no book should ever be banned in my view, for any reason. Great works of literature and culture have been attempted to be censured in the past often because a vocal minority cannot accept the content with the book. Lolita, Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Rings, Catcher in the Rye — and we aren’t even going back very far in our history.
In the case of Revolutionary Voices, the book was censured for a very obvious reason — because it depicted homosexuality. Sexuality in general is a firecracker in America because of how incredibly uncomfortable we are with the subject. Add in any “different” sort of sexual or gender issue and people panic and run to the streets. A woman was quoted as (I’m really not making this up, seriously) saying “We did it for the children.” Yes, these people wanted to ban this book to protect the children. Your children.
I want you to remember something. Glenn Beck — the leader of the 9.12 group — describes himself as a libertarian.
A libertarian.
Someone who wants the government out of your life, someone who thinks everyone needs to mind their own business and that we should adhere to a strict interpretation of the constitution.
From the 9.12 project’s very website: “My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.”
So they apparently want to make you — the parents — the ultimate authority in your child’s life, but they want to do it by choosing what books your child will and will not read in the public classroom.
This isn’t a blog based around comedy, but that has to be one of the most humorous things I’ve seen in the past year.
Coming back to my original point however, it is clear that some Americans are not comfortable with the idea of sexuality in their child’s books — and while I don’t think that is very productive, that is perfectly okay. That is their choice — not the government’s and it also should not be the choice of a public library, especially when they are under the influence of a group that can’t even figure out its own principles.
You see, the problem with banning a book like this isn’t just that it violates someones personal liberties — but it also violates their psychological health, in my personal opinion. When a child who is struggling with gender or sexuality issues sees a book that was created for them banned due to “questionable” content, how do you think they will feel about their internal struggles? When the content is called “pornographic,” how do you think they will feel? Warm and fuzzy that some grandmother decided they don’t deserve the same shelf-space that the other kids do?
Of course, that issue was never even brought up or considered. For now, Revolutionary Voices is banned and it most likely will remain that way. Perhaps one day we will look back on it much like the other books we cherish today and realize how silly we were as a country.
Until then, check out Banned Books Week here and celebrate by cracking open your favorite censured novel.
Why we need WikiLeaks (The NQL version)
0The media has been buzzing lately with talk of WikiLeaks and it’s founder, Julian Assange. While the website has been mentioned by the media before with previous releases, it hasn’t been until the recent “Cablegate” leak that they’ve really seen any major attention. With this current leak, they’ve published roughly 500 US diplomatic cables so far, although they have plans to publish many more.
The media jumped on the story immediately — not reported what was actually in the cables, of course, but instead choosing to focus on a very different question: Is Julian Assange a terrorist?
Sound bites have been played on most of the major networks from various personalities. Some quotes focus around Assange being captured, assassinated or otherwise killed.
Yet very few seem to be focusing on the wires themselves. What do they contain? For starters:
Here’s a story about one that reveals the US was behind an airstrike that killed 21 children in Yemen.
Secret deal let Americans sidestep cluster bomb ban (specifically, on British soil)
“…the Saudis always want to ‘fight the Iranians to the last American…’”
Ambassador reports Sri Lanken President responsible for ‘alleged war crimes’”
…and this is just from me quickly browsing them (basically, surfing their facebook page — not even going to the direct site and sifting through them myself, one by one). Considering an extremely limited amount has been shared with us so far, I’d say that this is pretty significant news, especially to US citizens. Yet most of the “sources” I find regarding the leaks are outside of the border.
Shouldn’t things like an air strike that killed civilians be major news? Shouldn’t the way our diplomats over seas do their job be news?
Instead, we are being “asked” if WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization.
I wonder of the people that say “yes” would’ve said the same about the New York Times? Or if they would’ve considered Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo criminals?
It’s impossible not to draw a comparison between the Pentagon Papers and this leak. While the situations are different, both seemed to highlight government secrets, especially ones that were damning to those with something to lose. The Pentagon Papers pointed out civilian tragedies that were unknown to the American people, along with government dealings that were previously unknown. Cablegate does the same thing — though most of the papers do not directly contain information related to the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.
As anyone who has taken a class in journalism knows, the Supreme Court stood up for Ellsberg, stating that the freedom of the press trumps the secrecy of information when it is relevant. Does the information leaked here not have the same relevance? How about information leaked by WikiLeaks in the past, such as the infamous “collateral murder” video?
We need WikiLeaks because the government sometimes needs a watchdog. I understand the need for secrecy within the military and the government. Lives can be put at risk by some information. In WikiLeaks’ case, though, the information is not threatening lives. I honestly question if it is harming our diplomatic standing in the world. I doubt any other governments thought Americans looked up to them, and I certainly don’t think they expected any of it to be secret.
As citizens, we need to be informed of what is going on within our country. The sort of discourse that has sprung up from these documents certainly makes me wonder. I can’t honestly say that we would have gone to Iraq if an organization like WikiLeaks let loose that the CIA thought Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction.
The fact is, quite simply, that information has the ability to make us more informed about the world around us. I would much rather live in a world of free data than one that is suffocated and censored. WikiLeaks is simply a publisher. A tool for the world to better understand itself.
Relevant links:
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/
Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
Oslo Freedom Forum: Julian Assange speaks
Note: I just sort of wanted to get my opinion out there. I’ll probably add to this soon.