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Grass roots censorship
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Apr. 4, 2008 |
A few days ago comments by me on the blog None So Blind belonging to the eminent academic and liberal commentator Andrew Bard Schmookler were moderated and not published by him.
Needless to say, I am no longer participating on that blog, but the censorship of my comments does serve the purpose of shedding light on the increasingly circumscribed nature of free speech, not just on liberal/left blogs but in the nation as a whole as a result of increasing polarization over issues of national politics.
I have experienced censorship and threats on the net before, and am proud of the fact. But my sense is that the problem of censorship, official, informal and self-applied, is increasing rapidly across every segment of the country. In the case of Schmookler the topic was Israel, but there are many such topics where honest, sincere opinion is not tolerated in an increasing number of venues.
Naomi Wolf, in her recent chilling book The End of America, analyzes ten steps that seem to always occur as a society turns from being an open one to a closed one. Underlying these ten
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Freedom of speech is fundamental. It is like the musculature of a free society.
If we don't use it, we lose it.
As controversy becomes more frightening, and speaking your mind becomes more of a risk, it becomes more important for ordinary citizens to exercise the right of speaking our minds forthrightly and cogently.
So what if arguments ensue?
At least the right to argue has been defended.
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steps toward the loss of freedom is a progressive diminishment of the ability for ordinary citizens to discuss topics of importance.
Freedom of speech is fundamental. It is like the musculature of a free society. If we don't use it, we lose it. As controversy becomes more frightening, and speaking your mind becomes more of a risk, it becomes more important for ordinary citizens to exercise the right of speaking our minds forthrightly and cogently. So what if arguments ensue? At least the right to argue has been defended.
Growing up I was always proud to hear someone say, "I don't agree with what you're saying but I defend your right to say it." Hearing that, more than anything else, made me proud to be a citizen of the US.
It is understandable that so many of us have hunkered down and hidden from conflict. It makes sense to avoid trouble. But if we don't want to find ourselves buried in our bunkers with only our bunker mentality to comfort us, we had better get out there in any venue available to us (I am fond of the supermarket check out aisle, and I sometimes choose the longest line on purpose), and
just start talking to neighbors and strangers about things that concern us about our country. Surprisingly, I think you will find that a remarkable number of people are thinking the same things you are thinking, and many will thank you for sharing what you know and shedding a little light in the closing darkness. And you just might learn a thing or two yourself.
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First off and of course, if you think your comments on Israel would be appropriate for Unknown News, feel free to send 'em here.
I love your notion of public discourse in the checkout aisle, and that's what I do too, unless I'm feeling rushed. What's 'permissible' on mainstream media has been constricted to a ridiculous measure, to the point that the mainstream liberal values that at least 60% of America embraces are derided as "the wacko left", and generally excluded from the dialogue. I try to make up for it by chatting common sense politics virtually everywhere I go, with strangers at the bus stop, or at the laundry where I work, and people across the aisle before the movie starts, etc. ...
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Well, the exchange had to do with a piece posted to None So Blind by Schmookler, about what a failure the Iraq war was, and I characteristically asked, "A failure for who?" Amongst the beneficiaries of the war I listed Israel, as well as the usual suspects, war profiteers, etc.
Schmookler, and I must reiterate that he is a respected card carrying liberal academic with some wonderful books to his credit, was uncharacteristically contemptuous in his reply, asserting that I didn't know what I was talking about and encouraging readers to ignore what I was saying in favor of actual history. The part that got censored was my reply that said that I thought reading history was a good idea and that I recommended Fisk's The Great War for Civilization and Norman Finkelstein's book
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How bad can the economic situation get?
Try abysmal. Steve Leser, writing for OpEd News in the article "It's not a Recession or even a Depression that is coming, it is a Staglationary Abyssal," says:| |
"It's always risky to try and predict things like this but I expect to see major corrections in the equity markets. I see a Dow in the 7000-9000 range, the S&P 500 struggling to stay over the 1000 mark and a NASDAQ in the 1400-1600 range. I see unemployment and inflation both between fifteen to twenty five percent. I see many consumers defaulting on their credit cards and the major crisis in the banking and lending industry will be compounded by hordes of consumers defaulting on their credit cards. As a result of these credit card defaults, more banks will fail and major banking insurers will fail as a result as well as investment funds and securities that are based on credit card debt. I believe there will be consumer and corporate bankruptcies on a massive scale." |
Looks like a real E ticket ride ahead. The only consolation for those at the bottom already is that they are going to fall less than their more fortunate neighbors.
The urge to violence is going to be our main threat as we try to figure out how to feed our families. Not having a job is going to be a very yesterday problem. On the other hand, as I try to continually stress, hitting bottom is just what an addict, or a society that is an addict, needs to do before changing their ways and beginning the process of recovery.
Somewhere in my boxes of books, probably at the bottom, is a copy of When Society Becomes an Addict by Anne Wilson Schaef. It is right on topic in light of current events. As soon as I can find it I plan to re-read it.
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The problem with liberals is that they are like mice that agree that cats are bad news but that cats should be allowed to continue feeding mice.
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Beyond Chutzpah : On the Misuse of Anti-
Semitism and the Abuse of History. Not very dramatic a conflict, but the point is that many of the liberal blogs function as gate keepers of the left that allow only a restricted scope of discussion, particularly where it comes to Israel and 9/11.
Oh, well. Note the recent revelation that the Army Psychological Warfare people are active in the blog sphere. Advice: question everything, including what I write, and believe only what is multiply corroborated from distinctly different sources, which is what I think Unknown News is all about.
In a sense the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are a sideshow to the central propaganda war being waged against the US population, because without the latter the former wars would be impossible.
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I guess you hit a hot button for Schmookler? I don't like gatekeepers, but I recognize that I am a gatekeeper myself. Here at Unknown News, we rarely publish the absurd notes we receive (and we receive them often), telling me the Bilderbergs rule the world, or explaining why the eye in the pyramid on a dollar bill is winking, and so forth. I snip such nutty stuff because it bores the bejeebers out of me, and I don't want my own website to bore me.
But there's nothing nutty about Fisk or Finkelstein, and I can't see any reason for snipping their names. Makes me think less of Schmookler.
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Gatekeepers, in the sense you mean, which I think of more as an editor, are very necessary unless the goats get in the paddock. The problem is with the subverted gatekeeper who has been hired or perhaps enchanted to let the goats in as if they were sheep.
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