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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, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:56PM (4 children)
Trump Wants to Censor the Media [theatlantic.com]:
I also link this one because its pro-complacency slant would seem to defuse normal MSM hyperventilation and show that yes, Trump is calling for censorship: Sorry, Journalists: Trump Isn’t The First President To Threaten The Press [thefederalist.com]
Trump can take up six completely different positions on any one issue before breakfast. However, the white queen may count all of that as only one impossible thing, so he is losing badly. Sad!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Tuesday October 02 2018, @04:36PM (3 children)
That is what you get for reading The Atlantic. Trump DOES want there to be consequences for libel, slander and outright falsehood but the biggest weapon he has been wielding against the media is his bully pulpit, calling them out, de-legitimizing them and that is not only entirely proper it is long overdue. The media practice Journalism as a political tactic, it is time to stop pretending they are an unbiased news source. ALL OF THEM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:54PM
So now you DO want censorship? Cause I'm pretty sure Trump would demand punishment for anyone repeating allegations. Until proof comes out allegations are libel or slander, and in Trump's bizarro world that means he could prevent the media from saying a single unproven bad thing. Yeaaaaah, good job you jackass.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:58PM (1 child)
Trump DOES want there to be consequences for libel, slander and outright falsehood
Which you would be calling censorship in any other situation.
(Score: 3, Touché) by jmorris on Tuesday October 02 2018, @06:17PM
You seem to labor under a false premise, that "the media" are a formal branch of our government and their exclusive domain is to pronounce The Truth. The media is free to slander HIM, he is a big boi and fully capable of defending himself, and does do to great effect. He is destroying the press in fact. And goodbye to rubbish I say.
What they should not have the power to do is wander the land destroying those powerless to oppose them and to demand that anyone speaking a truth they have not approved a heretic and subjecting them to unpersoning. And yes, when they knowingly speak lies they should be made to pay the same legal price as you or me would if we did it. No special aristocracy, no royal privilege. Posting rights on Warner Brother's or Jeff Bezo's blogs should grant no rights you don't get if you post on your own blogspot blog. We are ALL equal or none of us are and I damned sure won't bend the knee to the incompetent fools at the New York Times.