tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post1992919602293374230..comments2024-03-22T05:17:53.112-04:00Comments on Big Bad Bald Bastard: Banned Books Week, Eh?Big Bad Bald Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-62758194424277993492014-09-30T09:16:24.312-04:002014-09-30T09:16:24.312-04:00I wish this quote wasn't just from a video ga...I wish this quote wasn't just from a video game, because it speaks pretty clearly on this issue. <br />"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth’s final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.<br /><br /> — Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri [1998], Commissioner Pravin Lal"Helmut Monotremehttp://ihavestrongopinions.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-6986644541185603032014-09-28T12:38:33.588-04:002014-09-28T12:38:33.588-04:00While not their exclusive domain, attempts to cont...While not their exclusive domain, attempts to control thoughts and beliefs through control of the availability of certain books is the primary tool of the Theocracy. Just as the American Christianist Right attempts to control the content of textbooks and ban anything gay-friendly (or even gay-tolerant, but you know...), the Islamic fundamentalists take it even farther - perhaps because their worldview is based on a time even a thousand years older than the Christianist's medieval beliefs - banning books, music, poetry and most forms of individual expression. <br /><br />The risks to modern society posed by the rise of fundamentalist and extremist religious beliefs are always understated, because to criticize religious mythology or to identify as an atheist is still unacceptable in most parts of the world...mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701313718589322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-73966456489191570412014-09-28T08:53:25.773-04:002014-09-28T08:53:25.773-04:00We’re always just steps away from theocracy, and B...<i>We’re always just steps away from theocracy, and Banned Books Week should be a jolt to wake us up.</i><br /><br />I think we're <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy" rel="nofollow">even closer to 1984</a>.<br /><br /><i>The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major US media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request. The document – reproduced here in an easily searchable format – shows a terrifying network of coordinated DHS, FBI, police, regional fusion center, and private-sector activity so completely merged into one another that the monstrous whole is, in fact, one entity: in some cases, bearing a single name, the Domestic Security Alliance Council. </i><br />~ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©https://www.blogger.com/profile/06252371815131259831noreply@blogger.com