Monday, February 14, 2005
TCS and the Chill on Speech
Now the Tech Central Station is worried. Will Blogs Produce a Chilling Effect?
They are afraid that there will be a chill cast over speech, because people say things that are inappropriate, or word things improperly or have a slip of the tongue. As a consequence the speaker gets pillored and fired. Apparently, one shouldn't be responsible for things one says.
They are afraid that there will be a chill cast over speech, because people say things that are inappropriate, or word things improperly or have a slip of the tongue. As a consequence the speaker gets pillored and fired. Apparently, one shouldn't be responsible for things one says.
Eason Jordan resigned his position as top news executive at CNN because he had allegedly said that the U.S. military was deliberately killing journalists in Iraq.He accused the US Military of deliberately targeting reporters in front of a friendly crowd that mostly believed as he did. When called on it, he chose to deny his comments. He could have said, "Yes, I said it and here's the proof" or "Yes, I said it and there should be an investigation." And now TCS says people will be less free to speak their minds in the future. Bull! Words have consequences. You can no more yell fire in a crowded theater than attempt to thwart an election with false documents or smear the military with false charges. This is a PC world, unfortunately. Only TCS is trying to make us believe that there are exceptions, one of which is smearing the military.
Mover Mike
