Mar 31st, 07
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How is it that the person who wrote one of my favorite blog posts of all time on the issues of positive thinking and positive association, has become the victim of threats that cross all sorts of lines. Whatever the details on this huge controversy are, the bottom line is that I hate to see one of our fellow usability geeks get hurt.
However, the reaction by Kathy and many other bloggers sympathetic to her cause has been to abstain from writing in their blogs in a supposed act of protest and support. I frankly don’t get it. It’s just free speech.
I do not agree with most of Malkin’s political opinions (with the notable exception of certain free speech issues), but there is one thing she said recently in relation to this incident that I do wish to quote here:
My response to this and other endless slurs and threats–most empty, some serious–has been two-fold:
1) Report the serious threats to law enforcement.
2) Keep blogging.
As I have said before: “There is a time to be tolerant and there is a time to draw lines. If you don’t draw those lines, bullies will be emboldened.”
That is my unsolicited advice to those now cowering in the face of anonymous commenters and assorted nutballs who will never go away.
Would I stop blogging as Kathy has done? Hell no. The only thing that stops me from blogging is outright laziness, lackawanna, and deep cases of ennui. My reaction to such hostility and negativity has traditionally been to completely ignore the offensive material and continue forward. In fact I thought twice about posting this issue on my own blog here, because to an extent I am just perpetuating the flame war begun by the trolls that began this mess.
Although maybe the silence is in itself a form of speech. But I think keeping the blogosphere full of positive energy is better than letting silence and negativity rule.
Aug 13th, 06
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I’ve never been one to believe it’s better to do business in China or anywhere else by bowing to their demands for censorship and oppression than to not do so at all. Apparently many in the UK’s Parliment agree:
UK MPs slam ‘immoral’ Microsoft, Google, Yahoo stance
THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS committee in the UK House of Commons has laid into Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for collaborating with Chinese authorities to censor and police the Internet.
The committee pointed to Microsoft’s portal which blocks the use of the word “freedom”, Yahoo for fingering journo Shi Tao, who was then arrested and thrown into a Chinese clink, and to Google for introducing a “self censoring” version of its website in the country.
Turning a blind eye to evil only creates more evil. Pretending like this is going to get better over time is like pretending your kid is going to stop throwing temper tantrums by rewarding them with the toy that they are screaming over. It doesn’t work that way.
Our chief exports should not be the tools that enable censorship. How do you want to be remembered in history books? Do you want to be the guy who sold censorship to China, or do you want to be the guy that stood up and said “No”?
May 16th, 06
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I wasn’t going to go see The Da Vinci Code before, but now I’m gonna!
CNN.com – ‘Da Vinci’ provokes widespread protests – May 16, 2006
Now that’s a movie I’d like to see!
It amazes me that wingnut factions worldwide will call more attention to an issue that they hate by kicking up a fuss than if they had just kept their mouths shut in the first place. This is precisely what any book, movie, person, company, or whatever wants, is some loudmouth zealots shouting about how bad/evil/anti-christian they are, on the crest of a little popularity. This movie will skyrocket, as did the book, because of the free press and the buzz they help to create.
Apr 8th, 06
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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Stones rock full crowd in China
Ahead of the concert on Saturday, the Chinese government asked that the band not play the songs Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Beast of Burden and Let’s Spend the Night Together because of their suggestive lyrics.
Authorities reportedly later added another track to the list, Rough Justice from the Bigger Bang album.
Lead singer Sir Mick Jagger said the band were not worried by the censorship and had fully expected it.
“Fortunately, we have 400 more songs that we can play so it’s not really an issue,” said Sir Mick.
Wow, check out Sir Mick! What a change in attitude a trip to China makes. Seems like just yesterday they were complaining about the Super Bowl Incident. Even the BBC’s attitude seems more relaxed. What is happening?
Two things:
- The USA’s right-wing-controlled media institutions are not that much different from China when it comes to censorship. Land of the free, indeed.
- Censorship is ugly, no matter where it occurs.
Feb 5th, 06
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PlaybillArts: News: Colorado Music Teacher Defends Screening of Faust Video
The controversy began after Waggoner, who teaches elementary, middle and high school students at the K-12 school in a small town about 25 miles east of Denver, tried to pique the curiosity of the first, second, and third graders in one of her classes about opera. She chose a video of Gounod’s Faust (which she found on the classroom shelf) to teach the children about bass and tenor voices, the use of props, and “trouser roles” in opera.
The latter, she says, led to accusations that the married mother of two was a lesbian promoting homosexuality; the plot of Faust, where the title character sells his soul to the devil to recapture his youth, led to her being labeled a devil worshipper.
What a bunch of lunatics. The shocking details of this article don’t stop there, so read on. If these people can’t tell the difference between teaching music and lesbian devil worship, then they certainly shouldn’t be allowed to vote, much less procreate.
Link found at The Rest is Noise.
