From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rafal@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Mon Feb 17 2003 - 11:11:45 MST
M. Butler wrote:
> journalists
>
>
> Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
>
>>> "Self-governance," the editors say, is "an alternative to government
>>
>> review
>>
>>> of forthcoming journal articles." [etc]
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ### This leaves me speechless. There seems to be no end to the evil
>> emanating from the government. Even AAAS, who should have known
>> better, seem to be drawn into the madness.
>>
>> Rafal
>
> Umm. Not saying you're wrong. But I don't think we're looking at the
> same text, somehow. How is it that you have any _facts_ to support
> that this is an "evil emanating from the government"? Kindly
> enumerate them for me, 'cause I sure don't see them.
### Censorship of information is essentially possible if you have monopoly
control of the media, the kind only available to a government. Private
organizations almost never engage in censorship, mainly because they do not
have the means (but many of them would if they could - like the
Scientologists, or other churches).
So if a private group starts building a consensus to suppress information,
especially an organization like AAAS, whose very reason of existence is the
*spreading* of information, I see it only as a response to government
pressure, or fear of eventual brutal government action, perhaps much worse
than the voluntary restrictions. The same happened with the "voluntary"
restrictions on film making in the 1930's and computer gaming in the 1990's.
Hence evil emanations, not really a direct action of the jackbooted thugs,
just general miasma spreading among honest folk.
Rafal
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