Mother tongue: Polish Joined: February 18, 2003 Location: Poland
RE: Freedom ...
Berliner Zeitungwelcomes the fact that over 130,000 people in Germany have signed the petition against the law, adopted today in German Bundestag, which allows the government to block access to offensive Internet sites. The government initiative was spearheaded by the CDU family minister, Ursula von der Leyden, on the back of wholly founded claims, that the move will prevent the spread of child pornography. "The law may only be effective for three years initially but the damn burst has happened. The government now has a censorship infrastructure in place which can be extended at any time. The potential hitlist is long. Why not ban violent films or other supposedly objectionable material? Politicians have long been discussing other potential uses for the system. Often in hushed voices, but they are getting louder all the time. The education minister Annette Schavan, for example, has her sights set on violent sites. The government of Hessen wants gambling sites blocked. For the CDU politician Thomas Stroble, it's shooter games. At some stage it will be the turn of undesirable opinions." http://www.signandsight.com/intodaysfeuilletons/1886.html
Expert Mother tongue: English Posts: 1820 Joined: February 1, 2008 Location: United States
RE: Freedom ...
China today told Google to begin censoring more of its content, ostensibly, to "block pornography". But critics charge that it is a ruse to deflect attention from the real issue - which is Chinese censorship of the Internet in general, to block criticism of the government.
Bavaria already bans certain "violent" video games, as far as I know (and something tells me that a 17-year old gamer will be able to get around that law, better than the government bureaucrats will be able to enforce it, on the technical side). And that despite the fact that young men all over the world prefer to play them. The sociologists here conflate watching violence with doing violence, which of course are not the same things. If indeed there is a connection between the two, I think that the burden of proof should be on the "experts" to show that if people watch violent games, they then commit violence. Given that millions of young men worldwide play war games and "tactical" games, the fact that our streets are not filled with carnage, and that very, very few crimes are in any way tied back (if that is possible) to the games, one should err on the side of freedom here. Psychologists of course do not agree among themselves on really very many issues at all, and of course you can find a psychologist who will claim that watching "Medal of Honor 4" will turn the kid into a killer, but for every one of those, you will find 10 who refute that. Psychology is one of the very inexact sciences, and there is a lot of pure B.S. and junk that gets peddled in that field.
How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature's work?
The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair.
On a related subject, in my increasigly degenerate home state:
His story recalls those of several other high-profle cases: he appears to be a beneficiary of the affirmative action mentality that gave him a pass, allowing him to stay in the country on some spurious harassment charges and then feather his foul nest with taxpayer monies to be used for dubious purposes...?
Anyway, there's another "homie" who will still enjoy a taxpayer-subsidized lifestyle, though admittedly one with fewer perks.
[Edited by Scott Rasmussen on July 1, 2009 3:31 PM]
Expert Mother tongue: English Posts: 1820 Joined: February 1, 2008 Location: United States
RE: Freedom of speech, under attack in Canada
Returning (after several months...) to the original topic, Canadian Ezra Lavant has a new book out about Canada's war on free speech. The book is called "Shakedown, How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights". http://www.amazon.com/Shakedown-Government-Undermining-Democracy-Rights/dp/0771046189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246513005&sr=8-1 Watch Lavant's introductory comments, when he got called in front of Canada's so-called "Human Rights" kangaroo court:
I particularly like the line "freedom of mosque and state"... The Free Mark Steyn ("Free Canukistan !" site): http://steynian.wordpress.com/
Forums Disclaimer: The views expressed in the forums are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the site owner and/or moderators. If the reader considers a post to cause offence, then she or he should address a complaint to the moderator of the forum concerned. The complaint should be dealt with within 24 hours, but please respect the fact that the moderator may be living in a different time zone. Use of the forums signifies your agreement with the Forum Posting Rules.
Language, Literature, Arts, Religion, Other 
TC Mobile |
Ρυθμίσεις Φόρουμ |
Σύνδεση
Reply
Quote
Edit
Delete