October 19, 2022

"Nothing provokes hysteria and panic in servants of establishment power more than the possibility of spaces on the internet they can't control and censor."

45 comments:

Levi Starks said...

But a democratic government will protect their right to do just that.

tim in vermont said...

Hear, hear!

Beasts of England said...

Strange way to admit they’re brainwashing the rubes via social media and now they’re worried about losing that lever of power.

Mike Sylwester said...

Is Squirrell a real name?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I may not always agree with Greenwald - but he is a pro-free speech /anti-corruption /anti-elite-censorship crusader. He understands what we all know is true.

Thank goodness!

William said...

You can't make this stuff up.

Those on the other side will shout, "You all are just conspiracy theorists!", but it truly is a conspiracy in the purest definition of the word.

Sadly, it's so pervasive that I don't know what the answer is. What say you?

Michael K said...

"Democratic oversight" means it has to be approved by the DNC. The voting public must be sheltered from these dangerous ideas. Why they might even vote for the other party and we can't have that.

Enigma said...

Just wait until the left rediscovers that one can choose to live 100% off of black markets and bartering.

See Joseph Heller - Catch 22.

Robert Roy said...

Wouldn't democratic oversight consist of people deciding whether or not to use the product? People making individual decisions seems pretty democratic to me!

TreeJoe said...

I think the correct response is....

"Democratic oversight" - Do you mean unelected political appointees in hidden bureaucracies within the U.S. government need to have control over people whose voices and power are global in nature?

Cause it sure sounds like that's how you are defining "democratic oversight."

...

You can look back through my comments, i doubt I've ever used the term fascist, but I looked at the definition today. Here's the abridged version, "a political philosophy that exalts nation above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition"

This is truly an age where Fascism is emergent in our culture as a norm.

Mike Sylwester said...

I had not heard of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Its website is here.

The website's "About Us" page is here.

According to the Wikipedia article about the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the organization is funded as follows:

ISD partners with a number of Western governments, including agencies in Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, the United States[52], and the European Commission. It also works on funded projects with technology companies and organisations such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.

Notable sources of foundation support include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Omidyar Network, the Gen Next Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation. Other institutional partners include the Global Disinformation Index, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Institut Montaigne, and the German Marshall Fund.

------------
Footnote 52
fundsforngos (16 July 2020). "U.S. Embassy in Slovakia announces Countering Extremism Program". fundsforNGOs. Retrieved 19 October 2022.

Achilles said...

The big game going on right now is control over blockchain technology.

Decentralized applications that are open source and allow users to create control nodes not associated with a corporation or government central control entity are going to change the way the internet works.

This is otherwise referred to as Web 3.0.

Musk is discussing doing this with Twitter where the users of the app are able to take open source code and create their own nodes that can handle traffic from people.

There will be no twitter moderators.

There will be no requests from the white house or a political party or the CDC or Pfizer to censor things the globalists want quashed.

This is going to change how currency works as well.

It is time for governments to start seeking permission.

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

They hate free speech. Real free speech. You must take the NYT/Wapo party line or its "fascism" "hate speech" etc.

The former POTUS has been banned from social media and can't get an unfiltered interview anywhere except Fox News. If his tweets are published, they have to surrounded by negative reporting and "fact checked".

That's 2022 AmeriKKa

rcocean said...

They hate free speech. Real free speech. You must take the NYT/Wapo party line or its "fascism" "hate speech" etc.

The former POTUS has been banned from social media and can't get an unfiltered interview anywhere except Fox News. If his tweets are published, they have to surrounded by negative reporting and "fact checked".

That's 2022 AmeriKKa

tim in vermont said...

“ People making individual decisions seems pretty democratic to me!”

That’s what John D Rockefeller said about customers who could buy from Standard Oil or pound sand. We will see how Musk handles the attacks from Democrats on his intrusion into their fiefdom.

tim in vermont said...

“ People making individual decisions seems pretty democratic to me!”

That’s what John D Rockefeller said about customers who could buy from Standard Oil or pound sand. We will see how Musk handles the attacks from Democrats on his intrusion into their fiefdom.

Quayle said...

We'll allow democracy as long as said democracy stays within the confines of what we allow.

narciso said...

Thats why i call it the basilisk, omidyar pays so much pelf on behalf of iran and qatar

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Free speech according to the left:

"Democratic oversight"

Yeah - that's not creepy at all.


Mike Sylwester said...

Following up my own comment at 10:10 AM:

Footnote 52 -- about the US Government's partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue -- links to this article.

U.S. Embassy Bratislava, Public Affairs Section (PAS), has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for a program to train and mentor national/local government officials and civil society community leaders in the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic on best practices for preventing and countering racially/ethnically motivated violent extremism.

Specifically, the awardee will, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and the Strong Cities Network:

* organize a two-day workshop in spring 2021 (or thereafter) with the participation of 4 US speakers;

* organize pre- and post-workshop webinar discussions with workshop participants (two total);

* issue and monitor two small grants of approximately $3,750 each ($7,500 total) which will be awarded to conference participants from the Slovak Republic to conduct awareness raising campaigns/counter-messaging on racially/ethnically motivated violent extremism;

* facilitate a post-workshop visit of four days/three nights by Strong Cities Network staff to the Slovak Republic;

* facilitate round-trip international airfare for up to 10 workshop participants from the Slovak Republic to visit the United States in fall 2021 (or thereafter) on a State Department exchange;

* provide guidance to local and national government officials in the Slovak Republic on addressing violent extremist messaging online.

The awardee will be asked to arrange a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which manages the Strong Cities Network, to work with them as a sub-awardee to organize the conference and follow-on activities (budget estimate: $18,000).

Project Goals

Raise awareness among local and national government officials and community leaders about the spread of hateful and intolerant ideologies by racially/ethnically motivated violent extremists, including via propaganda imported from third countries.

Encourage local government officials to work with community leaders and national government officials to actively counter hateful and intolerant ideologies.

Encourage local government officials to share best practices and lessons learned on countering racially/ethnically motivated violent extremism with counterparts from third countries, including via the Strong Cities Network.

Funding Information

Total available funding: $100,000

Length of performance period: 15 months

Anticipated program start date: October 1, 2020

Priority Region: Slovak Republic, Czech Republic

Participants and Audiences: national/local officials and community leaders

tim maguire said...

TreeJoe said...This is truly an age where Fascism is emergent in our culture as a norm

Many (most?) people hold a sincere hatred of fascism that is unabated by their willingness to use the tools of fascism to achieve their goals.

JK Brown said...

When you train children to indoctrination rather than to be educated; to value the opinions of others over thought governed by discipline of intellect, regulation of emotions and established principles; this is the problem you have. Your population trained to "school helplessness" is susceptible to the passions of crowds. Or in other words, the "intellectuals" are increasing failing to convince the masses of the inevitability of the state.

"The dependence, further, is shown in any attempt to produce thought. When a student has formed the habit of collecting and valuing the ideas of others, rather than his own, the self becomes dwarfed from neglect and buried under the mass of borrowed thought. He may then pass good examinations, but he cannot think. Distrust of self has become so deep-rooted that he instinctively looks away from himself to books and friends for ideas; and anything that he produces cannot be good, because it is not a true expression of self. This is the class of people that Mill describes in the words, "They like in crowds; they exercise choice only among things commonly done; peculiarity of taste, eccentricity of conduct, are shunned equally with crimes; until, by dint of not following their own nature, they have no nature to follow; their human capacities are withered and starved; they become incapable of any strong wishes or native pleasures, and are generally without either opinions or feelings of home growth, or properly their own." 1 Such people cannot perform the hard tasks required in study, because they have lost their native power to react on the ideas presented.

"The evil is most serious with young children because of their youth. Many of them, while making good progress in the three R's, outgrow their tendency to ask questions and to raise objections, in other words lose their mental boldness or originality, by the time they have attended school four years. But all along, from the kindergarten to the college, there is almost a likelihood that the self will be undermined while acquiring knowledge, and that, in consequence, one will become permanently weakened while supposedly being educated. In this respect it is dangerous to attend a school of any grade."
--How to Study and Teaching How to Study (1909) by F. M. McMurry, Professor of Elementary Education, Teachers College, Columbia University


Robert Cook said...

"That's 2022 AmeriKKa"

Uh...that's "AmeriKKKA."

wendybar said...

But they sure are trying to shut people up. Apparently it is fine to bang Chinese spies, but don't you dare call Swalwell Fang, Fang, or the DOJ will tack more jail time on you. The Russians are alive and well in running our government as we speak...

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/10/doj-added-months-steve-bannons-sentence-labeling-sham-jan-6-committee-moscow-show-trial-calling-democrat-swalwell-fang-fang-swalwell/

Amadeus 48 said...

Why should anyone believe that Kanye and Elon need "oversight"? Does George Soros need oversight? Or David Brock? Or Zuckerberg or Bezos? Does Rupert Murdoch need oversight? Or Mitt Romney? How about Nancy Pelosi? Or Jim Jordan? Kari Lake? Katie Hobbs? How about Adam Schiff? Or Liz Cheney? Or Dick Cheney? Tony Fauci? How about Althouse?

The facts are that all of these people deserve and are entitled to say thing they want to say, and the rest of us get to judge them. Did Ye do anything but discredit himself when he started spouting anti-semitic nonsense? Elon, one of the great promoters of the modern age, is out there, and the bills will come due. Zuckerberg can't talk his "metaverse" idea into success.

The marketplace is a great concept.

Amadeus 48 said...

Swalwell is noted for banging Fang Fang, right? Lucky him.

Oh, and then there was that on-air fart that was so loud you could smell it.

SteveWe said...

What if, in an alternative universe, I and a group of like minded friends were to decide what will appear in the NYT, WAPO, Guardian, MSNBC, CNN, and various internet news feeds? Our group is very democratic, by the way.

CWJ said...

Since January 6, 2021 and perhaps even earlier,the uses of the words democracy and democratic have become increasingly congruent with their use in the former Iron Curtain countries. Unapproved thoughts and words were invariably denounced as undemocratic.

I thought this was comical back in the day. But here it is today in America.

ccscientist said...

That is rich: "without democratic oversight"--is there oversight on Facebook or the current twitter? Has there ever been democratic oversight on newspapers or TV? Oversight always always always ends up being government protecting itself from criticism or challenge. Iran and China throw comedians in jail and Iran currently has tried to shut down the internet completely.

Clyde said...

Let's be honest: They don't want "democratic oversight," they want "Democratic oversight."

JAORE said...

Just list the "misinformation" that was/would have been squashed that, surprise(!), turns out to be true.

Just by coincidence it also reflects poorly on the D party.

madAsHell said...

A tech bro billionaire or an unhinged rapper dabbling in antisemitism

Alex......I'll take newspaper villains for a $1000.

ccscientist said...

Robert Cook said: "Uh...that's "AmeriKKKA." " with the implication that censorship of the internet is radical right (KKK). Please, Robert, show me a single place where conservatives are able to censor anything.

n.n said...

Single/central/monopolistic solutions?

Democratic/dictatorial duality?

Political congruence ("=")?

Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry)?

Abortion chambers? Mengele mandates?

Pro-Choice ethical religion that denies women and men's dignity and agency, and reduces human life to negotiable commodities?

The forward-backward-monotonically divergent guardian is worried that people... persons will not take a knee, beg, and go along to get along with the consensus.

Quayle said...

"We need someone to be in charge - someone who can sort out the lies and hold people accountable!"

How about God?

"No, not that guy! Someone else. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg can do it."

Narr said...

Robert was correcting a typo, ccscientist at 1201.

The concepts of Dis- and Mis-information are today merely secularized and politicized synonyms for what used the be called Error and Heresy.

Civilized and educated people have no need of Fact-Checkers, another recent coinage that means--if anything at all--a young, partisan ignoramus with only the slightest acquaintance with life offline.





Valentine Smith said...

That's small d democratic when hhe really means cap D as in Democratic party oversight. Sly dog.

Howard said...

Yeah we need to hear more from Conway West the country rapper. I think musk is just not well versed at playing a game of chicken for keeps.

n.n said...

"God... No, not that guy! Someone else. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg can do it."

Mortal gods and goddesses that offer "benefits" and sanction rites are a secular tradition.

Narr said...

I'm glad that Ye gets to spread his word, whatever it may be, and that I get to ignore it.

America, fuck yeah!

Josephbleau said...

If you don’t read the paper you are uninformed. If you read the paper you are misinformed, Mark Twain.

Josephbleau said...

If you don’t read the paper you are uninformed. If you read the paper you are misinformed, Mark Twain.

Drago said...

Howard: "I think musk is just not well versed at playing a game of chicken for keeps."

You written quite a few incredibly stupid things over the years and this one ranks right up there.

You are so Dunning-Kruger-ed you can't even realize how ignorant and ahistorical that comment is.

Musk has gone to the mat and overcome more barriers in his career then you could ever appreciate, starting all the way back with zip2 leading to paypal and then off to the races to become the first guy to $250B+ and he will easily become the first guy to $300B.

But do go on and elaborate. I could use another solid laugh before the evening ends.

So go ahead, tell us more of Musk's failings.

Michael K said...

I quit reading Howard's posts. He has become a troll.