One of the most exciting things about living in the Internet Age is that there is absolutely nothing that is hidden from us anymore. Someone, somewhere has posted something that will help us learn or experience just about anything we want.
Everyday we hear about companies and governments who are trying to throttle back the Internet to make some information inaccessible. We should remember that this is nothing new. Censorship has always been a tool used by those who keep others at a disadvantage, though it is often employed under the guise of protecting people from forbidden knowledge.
In our minds, no knowledge should be forbidden for it is what people do that creates good or evil, not what they know.
We were pleased to see that this coming week is Banned Books Week. We support this effort and urge you to learn more about it. What a great way to use New Media, to raise awareness of the need to keep old media free and uncensored.
5 comments:
Yes, do learn more about it. No books have been banned in the USA for about half a century. Thomas Sowell calls BBW "National Hogwash Week" and for good reason. Read what Dr. Sowell said and many others here: http://tinyurl.com/Sowell
As former ALA Councilor Jessamyn West said, "It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all."
Thanks for your comments, SafeLibraries.
I posted this here because as we continue to feel the effects of global networks on every aspect of our society, the desire by some to control the communication that gets to the rest of us will grow stronger and the only way we'll be able to stand against it will be through a unified front.
I understand you have a political motive and so feel justified in calling the work of others "Hogwash" because it doesn't serve your ends, but that's the kind of divisiveness that will make us all less effective in the future.
Good luck with your agenda. You're welcome to post here again, but in the future only posts signed by humans (not organizations) will remain on this site.
Thanks. I'm sorry you have read me so wrong. Really wrong.
And for a free speech advocate, you seem to have a hair trigger on censorship. "I posted this here because...." shows you thought about blocking it. "[I]n the future only posts signed by humans (not organizations) will remain on this site," shows you have limited tolerance for free speech.
And just to be sure as you have added a hurdle to free speech, SafeLibraries is now me, Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries.
As Dan Gerstein said, "The ... elites have convinced themselves that they are taking a stand against cultural tyranny. .... [T]he reality is that it is those who cry 'Censorship!' the loudest who are the ones trying to stifle speech and force their moral world-view on others."
Thanks for your comment, Dan. Yeah, I don't let people use my sites to slam anyone unless they take personal responsibility for their comments. I guess you could call that censorship. I call it keeping the riff-raff out.
You should feel free to say whatever you want elsewhere in America and I'll be the first to support your right to do so.
Choosing what I post is not the same thing as blocking what I don't post.
Dan, did you just call me one of the elite? That's very nice of you. Or am I reading you wrong again?
Sorry for baiting you. I have no stake in your battle to take back libraries and wish you well if you really think you'll be making things better. This blog is primarily about showcasing the ways people are using New Media, in the hope that visitors will get good ideas and go out and do good things.
Fair enough. Thanks.
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