Atlantic Magazine: Hurrah for Pandemic Censorship!

Newsbusters ^ | April 26, 2020 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

A note to Atlantic magazine: George Orwell's 1984 wasn't meant to be a how-to guide.....

A couple of people writing at The Atlantic magazine see a fantastic silver lining in the current coronavirus outbreak. Jack Goldsmith and Andrew Keane Woods see the pandemic as a great opportunity to bring about more censorship along with surveillance of the public as they exulted on Saturday in "What COVID-19 Revealed About the Internet."

Just so you would know where they were coming from, the subtitle was "In the debate over freedom versus control of the global network, China was largely correct, and the U.S. was wrong." Got that? Totalitarian China is right and the USA is wrong when it comes to "freedom versus control of the global network." And in case you think they are being misinterpreted, their own words reveal they come down firmly in favor of Big Brother.

[PJ-Comix]

What's so surprising nowadays is how OPEN liberals are to admitting that they favor censorship and surveillance. A few years ago they were still PRETENDING to believe in free speech.

[JudgemAll]

Book burning Nazis, everywhere around us.

[stinkerpot65]

Democrats are evil scum.

[a fool in paradise]

Despotism (Encyclopedia Britannica film, circa 1946)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaWSqboZr1w

“A community is low on a ‘Respect’ scale if common courtesy is withheld from large groups of people on account of their political attitudes.”

“...in a downright despotism opposition is dangerous whether the despotism is official or whether it is unofficial...”

“A community rates low on the ‘Information’ scale when the press, radio, and other channels of communication are controlled by only a few people and when citizens have to accept what they are told.”

“See how a community trains its teachers”
“...these students are being taught to accept uncritically whatever they are told. Questions are not encouraged.”

“And if books and newspapers and the radio [and facebook and youtube and...] are officially controlled the people will read and accept exactly what the few in control want them to. Government censorship is one form of control. The newspaper that breaks the government censorship rule can be suspended. It is also possible for newspapers and other lines of communication to be controlled by private interests...”

Democracy (Encyclopedia Britannica film, circa 1946)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx25aMPvbJo

“The newspapers of a real democracy meet these tests...”

Newspaper checks.
1. Balance of coverage
2. Disclosure of source
3. Competence of staff

[hanamizu]

A few years ago they were still PRETENDING to believe in free speech.

---

No, they still believe fervently in free speech—for themselves. “Incorrect speech” must be stomped out. It’s really for everyone’s good. /s

[knarf]

Created this morning ... 4/26

[Rummyfan]

Totalitarian China is right and the USA is wrong when it comes to "freedom versus control of the global network."

Unbelievable. They openly crave totalitarianism.

[Wallace T.]

We are seeing a very old Communist technique in action. When out of power, Communists, whether in Tsarist Russia or pre-revolutionary Spain, are big advocates of freedom of speech. Their libertarian sentiments vanish when they gain power. In a similar vein, Communists are champions of labor rights until they take control, after which they are worse than the former capitalist class.

This playbook long predates Saul Alinsky. There was a book written many years ago: "You Can Trust the Communists (to be Communists)". As true in 2020 as it was in 1920.

[BenLurkin]

In the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong. Significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with a society’s norms and values.

Don't know who penned those words, but do worry that they might suffer some form of injury at the hands of an over-zealous patriot.

[tbw2]

Another example: CNN ‘Larry King’ episode featuring Biden accuser’s mother disappears from Google Play catalog
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-larry-king-episode-featuring-biden-accusers-mother-disappears-from-google-play-catalog

[JimSp]

One of the authors of the Atlantic article was a former Bush administration official.

[PJ-Comix]

I get examples almost every day with YouTube attempting censorship of my (and a lot of other folks) videos via demonetization. It’s become almost routine.

[PJ-Comix]

One of the authors of the Atlantic article was a former Bush administration official.

He was also Chuckie O'Brien's stepson of Jimmy Hoffa fame.

[PJ-Comix]

One of the authors of the Atlantic article was a former Bush administration official.

He was also Chuckie O'Brien's stepson of Jimmy Hoffa fame.

[Lurker]

See my tag line.

L

[Kalija]

Freud was right about snitches. If companies supply goods to fill that demand that is business. Wonder what he says about karma being a bitch.

Interpreting the act as an expression of repressed desire, Freud concluded, “No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his finger-tips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

[foreverfree]

Bump

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

#8. The book “You Can Trust the Communists to Be Communists” was by Dr. Fred Schwarz, (Australian). Believe his group was the “Christian Anti-Communist Crusade”. He put out a fairly good newsletter, a precursor to the more professional “Accuracy in Media Bulletin/Report” (to which I was an occasional contributory and AIM co-founder).

Just FYI!

[elbook]

“pandemic as a great opportunity to bring about more censorship along with surveillance of the public as they exulted on Saturday”

These clowns are not journalists and are weaving their own nooses — assuming the outraged mods will wait with such betrayers.

BOYCOTT THESE APPARATCHIKS

[9YearLurker]

More Big Tech authoritarianism.

Steve Jobs’s widow bought the rag three years ago.

She is a budding, female Bill Gates, owning this through her “Emerson Collective” LLC, “a social change organization focused on education, immigration reform, the environment, media and journalism, and health. Founded by Laurene Powell Jobs,[2] the LLC uses philanthropy, impact investing, advocacy, and community engagement as tools to spur change in the United States and abroad.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_Collective)