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from the I-Disapprove-of-What-You-Say,-But-I-Will-Defend-to-the-Death-Your-Right-to-Say-It dept.
From an editorial in the Otago Daily Times out of New Zealand, Censorship a Trojan Horse:
It's an oft-cited maxim that the news media is the "fourth estate" upon which a healthy democracy stands.
It ensures the three traditional powers of state — the legislature, executive and judiciary — can be critiqued, challenged and curbed from quietly drifting into the arms of corruption and authoritarianism.
A free, fair, open and uncensored media is an antidote to state power and, for all its failings (and there are many), should be treasured as such. There are many countries around the world whose people would give anything for such a freedom.
Yet calls for the banning of certain opinion pieces, cartoons and commentary have risen in recent months, especially from those using social media, a world where such talk is becoming a trend. It is a trend we must confront.
Censorship is to suppress the harmful, the unacceptable, the obscene and the threatening from the media and other forms of public communication. Like a virus attacking democracy from the inside out, it was traditionally the tool of the dictator, though it is one used by many in power.
[...] It pays to query what those demanding censorship — be they celebrities, social-media activists or anybody else — see their ultimate goal as being.
To reduce hurt? To make the world a better place? Possibly, and those motivations are laudable. But the method employed to achieve them is not.
While censorship may be meant as a figurative horse upon which a better future rides, inside the belly of that horse lurks an army of conformity, quite capable of unwitting oppression.
History shows what happens when the fourth estate is no longer free to table all opinions.
It is a bleak picture. Without the disinfectant of exposure, power and ideals tend to corrupt even the most seemingly incorruptible.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:25AM (1 child)
> How do you prevent idiots from being manipulated??
Not only you cannot, also you should not. Idiots want to be manipulated and that's their right. In 21st century when mostly everybody has unlimited free access to world's knowledge in their pocket, ignorence is a choice.
The question should be how do you prevent people not suffering from other people's (idiots') decisions. Should be to each their own. There is no "we", apart from the herd immunity and the environment in general.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:04PM
That's why borders are more important nowadays and immigration should be regulated even if it wasn't as regulated in the past if at all.
This way most of the different idiots will be forced to live in the mess they voted for. And the different experiments can be run in parallel with less cross contamination.
One big problem is when countries mess up other countries. Like the USA messes up other countries (e.g. Iraq, Libya, Syria etc). In those cases they should be required to accept the refugees from the messes they create.
The other big problem is the US President could go nuts and nuke the whole world and there really isn't much to prevent that (most/all the systems are just to confirm that the order came from the President): http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2011/02/an_unsung_hero_of_the_nuclear_age.html [slate.com]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/09/what-if-the-president-ordering-a-nuclear-attack-isnt-sane-a-major-lost-his-job-for-asking/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9566c517eef6 [washingtonpost.com]