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News Briefs 03-08-2010

By Jameskeon

Just to throw boredom into catharsis.

Quote of the Day:

The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.

Woodrow Wilson

Jameske
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4 Comments

  1. Easter Island
    I find this fairly unconvincing:
    [quote]
    Dr Karina Croucher from The University of Manchester believes that looking at the artwork as a whole shows a self-sufficient population at peace with itself and nature.
    [/quote]

    Art work depicting flora, fauna and landscape doesn’t show a self-sufficient population at peace etc.., nor does it show the opposite.

    The only thing is shows that the things and animals depicted in the artwork were known to the artists. If the artwork closely resembles the actual objects or animals, we can draw more conclusions:

    – the object was well known to the artist, not just a vague description by word of mouth
    – the artists style is a kind of direct realism, as opposed to an excaggerating symbolic style, a reducing impressionist or minimalist style, or some other non-realist style
    – the artist was capable, and had the necessary tools and materials

    What the economic model of the society was isn’t very evident from a realist art style. The relative abundance of artwork tells us about the number of active artists, but even that is highly uncertain.

  2. Complacency Kills Liberty
    How nice it would indeed be if someday censorship was somehow defeated… or simply made irrelevant.

    The free and unfettered and uncontrolled flow of information is the key to liberty.

    It was the free press that for so long acted as the guardian of the democratic republics. But it was never quite as free as it all looked and I do not see now that we are any closer to the day when censorship is no more. To the contrary; the same technology that powers today’s information super highway is also used to regulate the traffic that is allowed to travel its global span.

    China is one prime, working example of a moderately reformed police state that has learned a few new illusory tricks in the cosmetics department. The eye shadow and lipstick give it an attractive new face outwardly… but while still maintaining an iron grip from within.

    Oh, and let’s not forget that during the uprising in those recent Iranian elections, that the Islamic state successfully choked off much of the electronic access both in and out. Many domestic bloggers were arrested and carted off to jail for no more than posting pictures of what was happening on the streets of Tehran.

    Finally, lest we become tempted to complacency or even to a bout of smugness, what used to pass for a free press here in the good old US-of-A has long since disappeared. Today’s Main Stream Media is wholly owned by corporations whose sole interest is profit, not news or truth. The result is what you see in your daily newspaper and on the nightly news… and perhaps even more to the point, what you don’t see.

    We are a kept society that is groomed to accept what we are told… and in this case, that we should not worry because, well, censorship is being made irrelevant.

    1. When censroship might save lives
      The importance of freedom of information is something I’ve been thinking about lately, due to the current circumstances in Mexican society.

      Some of the media have refused, for instance, to print the ads and messages left in the street by the drug cartels; and the reason for this is that usually those messages are left with kind of a creepy added bonus: a few decapitated heads for dramatic effect is their favorite gag.

      On the other hand, other newspapers maintain that it’s their job to inform the public of everything that’s happening, something the drug cartels try to take full advantage of for their own interests.

      And of course, there’s also the government; who is always trying to manipulate the information the public receives; and trying to coax the media into omitting the less-flattering news that might hinder foreign investment and scare away tourism —who wants to spend their holidays in a place when you can end up stepping on someone else’s decapitated head, right?

      So, what do you think? Where does one draw the line?

      1. speech! speech!
        What is more worrying is stuff like forbidding Blackberry phones in some countries, because they allow you to have a private conversation that the government cannot listen to. UAE is doing that, Indonesia is considering it.

        That is not good, perfectly harmless innocent people are not allowed to speak with other harmless innocent people, unless they can be monitored by the government.

        And don’t think this sentiment by governments is limited to those kinds of countries.

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