Why is it even important… and why should I care? I’ll get to the why…
Spy vs Spy
Recently the Dems and GOP have been fussing about what is or isn’t spying. It doesn’t take exceptional intelligence to figure which side has staked their position in the debate in the Land of Dumb… Is it spying or surveillance? That seems to be the crux of the debate.
SPY ∙ verb
work for a government or other organization by secretly collecting information about enemies or competitors.
observe (someone) furtively.
discern or make out, especially by careful observation.
SURVEILLANCE ∙ noun
close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal.
Is there really a difference? Is any difference enough to matter? If not, then what is at play?
This week I think the war on free speech is escalating. I read Drudge Report each morning. It tells me what mainstream media will be talking about tomorrow or the next day. Today it leads with 7 articles about attacks on free speech.
For those unfamiliar with the Drudge Report, it is a ‘news aggregator’. Very seldom does Mr. Drudge actually include any of his writing in the Report. So, it is like Feedly, Newsify, gReader, and other aggregators.
Image – Drudge Report is popular. The stats are approaching 1 billion page views per month.
Today it points to articles from; CNN, NYT, WaPo, The Sun (UK), Mirror (UK), Whimn (AU), The Hill, CBS Sacramento, Rolling Stone, Reuters, Yahoo News, Bloomberg, NBC, Daily Star (UK), Space.com, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Zero Hedge (considered a conspiracy site), AP News, Axios, Politico, FNC, SF Gate, and that is just a partial list from today.
Drudge Page Hits – 8/7/2018
A number of sources proclaim Drudge Report as extreme right-wing. If you read the list above, you’ll wonder how that is possible. Blue is Left and Red is Right. Uncolored text is center or unknown. My list is taken from today’s Report and I took them as I found them. I skipped some like The Smoking Gun because I don’t recall ever seeing them in the Report and didn’t consider them representative. Those I listed I see almost every day.
The Report’s stories are pointed to without comment. Other than a modified headline which leaves little, if any, room for spin. So, Drudge Report bias, if it exists, can only come from their selection of articles. The significant majority of articles are from Left and Center-Left sources. So, it is the Left claiming one pointing to their words is extreme right-wing? Really!?!
Every so often I get on the subject of free speech. Second Life™ is said to be inhabited by more Liberals and Progressives than Conservatives and Traditionalists. But, no one knows, at least I have yet to see an objective study or assessment. I can see that we have more demonstrations of liberalism in SL. But, Conservatives have historically been the silent majority. Thus, the problem figuring out the actual demographics.
Google can’t tell about information requests from China
Second Life is not a free speech area. It is a private area owned by Linden Lab(R). Speech is governed by the ToS. We are free to say whatever within those limits. It is up to the Lindens to decide what speech exceeds those limits. Their decision is final, there is no appeal.
In RL free speech is suffering from fake news that is confusing some people and adding extraneous information some mistake for facts. Part of which is that awful thing ‘Hate Speech’, which is an interesting spin on “Hate” and the prime tool for anti-speech proponents.
I think the recent Berkley riot and threat of riot are examples of people not understanding the US Constitution and the principle of Free Speech nor its importance nor how to protect it nor why.
I’ve already been contacted by people in Second Life™ worried that it may mean SL will be banded in the UK. It gets complicated as banning requires ‘unconventional sex acts’ be defined and that age verification meet certain standards, which seem to be poorly defined and left to some bureaucrat to decide.
Most European countries have already given up their free speech rights, at least as Americans see free speech. I suspect most Europeans don’t even realize how much they never had and how much they have lost.
The Federalist has a good article on the sad shape of free speech in America: The Coming Free Speech Apocalypse. I am certain most have no idea how much Hillary and the Democrat Party are against free speech nor that they have plans for limiting speech in the Democrat platform. She has to hate repeatedly being called out on her lies.
This past week has seen more and more attacks on free speech and civil rights than any time I can remember. I don’t see where anyone is actually tabulating the frequency or even the number of attacks. So, I can’t provide hard data to prove an increase. But, there is no doubt there are attacks and they are legion.
We expect attacks on or systematic elimination of citizen speech in Communist countries. But, I find it amazing Socialists are gaining support as they attack rights and Progressives are joining in…
As our report shows, curbs on free speech have grown tighter. Without the contest of ideas, the world is timid and ignorant.
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In all areas of life, free debate sorts good ideas from bad ones. Science cannot develop unless old certainties are queried. Taboos are the enemy of understanding. When China’s government orders economists to offer optimistic forecasts, it guarantees that its own policymaking will be ill-informed. When American social-science faculties hire only left-wing professors, their research deserves to be taken less seriously.
