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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:23PM (2 children)
"Whether it was "winnable" given our lack of unity is something the historians will debate for a long time."
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What utter bullshit.
The Viet Nam war was never "winnable" because on one side there were committed fighters who were natives and on the other side there
were people from other countries who were not personally invested in winning in the long run.
You need to shut the fuck up, little boy. I served in Viet Nam, and you didn't.
I'd stomp your fucking ass right now if you were in front of me, because I am sick and tired of jerkoffs like you spewing bullshit about situations they have only read about. FUCK YOU.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @08:30AM
Oh, Look! More "Stolen Valor" on SoylentNews!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday October 03 2018, @07:27PM
Specifically, Ho Chi Minh quite politely requested Vietnam be granted its independence from France at the 1918 Paris Peace Conference. He was ridiculed.
In 1955 the North Vietnamese totally surrounded the French at Dien Bien Phu then slaughtered so many of them that France granted Vietnam its independence. They could have done so in 1918.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]