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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: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:17PM (3 children)
Like Matrix - the sequels were all VFX and no story, but they sold.
Stop! I admit, it's too bad they never made any sequels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday October 02 2018, @04:05PM (2 children)
I rather liked #2, it's just that the end of #2 turned it into magic instead of Sci-Fi. Which really killed #3. There may have been some other holes / crazyness, but that's what really killed the series.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday October 02 2018, @04:54PM (1 child)
Well it was either magic or they were all still inside the Matrix, it just had a special level for minds that tried to escape. But that also renders the whole exercise pointless and the movies nihilistic so that isn't a good answer either.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 02 2018, @07:43PM
They could have explained #2's "magic ending" in #3 by saying they were still in the Matrix, and then going from there. Instead, they decided that Deus Ex Machina was a great way to go about finishing their 3 movie series. More like a sure fire way to bury the series.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"