Left Wing Censorship
July 15th, 2008 by jacob
The backlash at the New Yorker is typical. The left wing’s sacred cow has been defiled and the shrieking, designed to silence and instill fear, has commenced in earnest.
“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. “But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”
The countless cartoons depicting George Bush as an ape are not tasteless? Or Bush Hitler connection? The MSM did not rise up on its collective hind legs over this tasteless humor. But the orthodoxy surrounding the tale of the Chicago Messiah must be protected at all costs. So in this case a stalwart ally is savaged. That’s OK, the New Yorker will crawl out from under the bus, and soon a cartoon depicting Obama in the correct ‘lite’ will be proffered as penance.
It appears that since the fear campaign known as Political Correctness, or PC has not managed to shut down the pajamahadeen then the boys at Google decided to do it themselves as reported in the NYT ‘BITS’ section.
Did Google use its network of online services to silence critics of Barack Obama? That was the question buzzing on a corner of the blogosphere over the last few days, after several anti-Obama bloggers were unable to update their sites, which are hosted on Google’s Blogger service.
The number of sites was seven, not several, but the gray lady has been suffering from journalistic senility the past 20 years, so I chalk it up as remarkable that the water carriers for the Democrat party reported this at all. The claim that these sites were not targeted is laughable as this kind of thing requires human action.
Seven blogs run by Democrats who oppose Obama’s nomination for the presidency were incorrectly flagged as spam sites by Blogger, the hosting service Google has owned since 2003. Google says it was an automated response from a spam filter.
But the bloggers believe that Web surfers who support Obama took advantage of a loophole in Blogger’s system that allows readers to report spam blogs, the artificial Web sites that abound on the Internet and are used to promote other sites.
“It appears that [Blogger’s] policy can be manipulated by people determined to shut down the free exchange of ideas,” said Carissa Snedeker, whose blog, BlueLyon, was among those that were frozen.
This is classic. The left wing, typified by the likes of is shouting ‘censorship’ when they are called on being the windbags like Rosie O’Donnell. The interesting thing is the ongoing censoring of good news from Iraq and Afganistan. Nothing to see, move along.
More typical of left wing censorship is on going intellectual pogrom on college campuses. Hate speech is defined as anything that annoys or offends some left wing loon. The banning of reading of books that have scary words is another pastime of the left wing campus thought police.
Sampson’s troubles began last year when a co-worker complained after seeing him reading a book titled “Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan.”
It appears that study of American history can be more radical than one would imagine.
Sampson, a 58-year-old white janitor and student majoring in communication studies, said he tried to explain that the book was a historical account.
I have an interest in American history,” Sampson said. “I was trying to educate myself
But Sampson says his union official likened the book to bringing pornography to work, and the school’s affirmative action officer in November told Sampson his conduct constituted racial harassment.
You used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your black co-workers,” Lillian Charleston wrote in a letter to Sampson.
I guess its OK to get hysterical over nothing when dealing with a middle age white guy, a.k.a. a redneck. Harassment of the non-protected class is okey dokey.
If the bloggers who got targeted where Obama supporters the story would have appeared on the NYT’s front page not the BITS section. If a member of the LBGT community where targeted for reading something, the story would be a lead on the 6 O’clock news. Because the websites are against the DEMOCRAT presidential candidate and because this guy is some uneducated middle aged white guy (who can’t jump) the media is giving these stories short shrift. Now, that is not censorship?
You do not have to burn down the building with the printing press or have a bonfire of books to engage in censorship. The two acts I mentioned where brought to you by the Communists and the National Socialists. All you need to do is silence through intimidation and kangaroo courts, or have a left wing media establishment with an agenda.
Other left wing types who support censorship, like the Communist Chinese, currently still have a state run press. Chavez, the self appointed Castro of the 21st century, also shut down the free press in his country. I am not sure why the left feels it cannot win in an open forum. Still, we have no real worries, its not like it really can happen here. Ask Nancy Pelosi, she is a champion of free speech.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, Philosophy, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Two things strike me about the whole hubbub.
1) The people calling the Obama cover “tasteless” are the same people who gushed just 10 months ago over the New Yorker cover depicting Dick Cheney as an evil pumpkin. And I don’t recall Cheney being so self-centered and arrogant as to be offended by it and demand an apology.
2) And if you’re trying to dispel false rumors you’re Muslim, getting angry over a cartoon probably isn’t the best way to do it
July 15th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
How does this playout. The liberal New Yorker lampoons a cover about Osama-bama. The conservatives knew what it was all about but the liberals are too stupid to get it and that is what the New Yorker was banking on. Now all liberals are up in arms about the blaspheming being done unto their messiah. Of course, for fear of appearing racist, ANYONE now that wishes to knock Bore-rock won’t. He will now have unfettered carte-blanche to do and say whatever without recourse.
Who am I kidding. Liberals aren’t smart enough to be that devious!
July 16th, 2008 at 6:25 am
The difference between depicting Bush as an ape and depicting Obama as a Muslim is that Obama is not a Muslim. I thought the cartoon was funny, which I guess makes me not a liberal.
July 16th, 2008 at 6:53 am
zimzo,
Point taken, the only trouble I see is your disturbing anti primate bias. What did the chimps ever do to you to to warrant such abuse?
Further more, if you thought the cover was funny then there might be hope for you after all.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Jacob,
It’s just a zimzo ploy. He probably is a hunter and believes in your 2nd amendment rights too. This is the “new” mantle of liberal speak.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Jacob,
BTW Doesn’t that look like the outside of the UN building where his picture is being installed? Makes you think, doesn’t it.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I will say it again.
G. Stone said:
July 15th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Liberals lampooning a liberal in order to poke conservatives with a stick and they end up poking themselves in the eye.
These people just aren’t that smart.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Yes, when the target (by liberals) is conservatives using satire, but the liberals manage to infuriate their own, there is something missing between the ears.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Jacob, I never seem to remember your contributions as standing out in my memory…but the “pajamahadeen” passage is a keeper, and hilarious in that ” so real it has to be funny” kind of way!!!!!!
July 19th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Locally - and you know what they say, as Loudoun goes, so goes the U.S.A - censorship actually appears to be a trademark of the right.
For example, there was the recent blow-up on Too Conservative which illustrated that one faction in the LCRC would like to “censor” LGBT people out of the Republican Committee, and if the “Farissites”, like Mr. cross (-t), had their way, all the way out of existence. See:
http://www.equalityloudoun.org/?p=723
Then there have been two pretty high profile cases of censorship in the Loudoun County School system. Both organized by the right. There was the bold opposition to penguin books:
http://www.equalityloudoun.org/index.php?s=tango
And, of course, the famous censorship of the student authored play “Offsides”:
http://www.equalityloudoun.org/?page_id=247
You may try to spin this until hell freezes over Jacob, but you simply can’t produce any local censorship activity that comes close to these Herculean efforts. Yes, we know that pro-science academics may have “censored” the idea that the earth is less than 6000 years old and that Adam and Eve rode out of Eden on the back of a Brontosaurus. That act of “censorship”, however didn’t seem to create nearly the fuss. Go Figure.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
ummm,
I’m almost afraid to say this, but I just posted a comment describing Loudoun censorship cases (LGBT Republicans, penguin books, and school plays) and I guess my comment contained key words that triggered this blog’s censor’s ire. Needless to say, my comment was censored.
July 19th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
G. Stone- you really don’t need to say anything twice, please. Unlike wine, your comments neither improve with age or the second or third glass.
July 19th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
JW, Your comment was put in moderation because of the links, that’s how the spam filter is set. Eventually as your comments are de-spammed it is supposed to learn to permit you to post multiple links in your comments.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
Laurie,
You’re drinking the wrong wine. Try Night Train. That will put some step in your caboose and allow you to see the finer side of liberal idiocy.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am
Jonathan,
Still trying to get that recognition for your “raving” ways, I see. Try hitting on the Main Stream Media (I had to spell it out so that you didn’t mis-understand its meaning for the usual Men having Sex with Men as the Swedes have shown) who help censor anything the liberal messiah requests. Or maybe McCain/Feingold. There are plenty more. I don’t want you censored, I just want your “agenda” in the background.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
As referred to earlier - it is time for the MoveOn left to just move along, step aside, and fade away - when $100 oil and $3 gas is back in late September - and the markets will have done what markets do - the last of the left’s mantra of complaints, the platforms on which they stand, will be gone. Move along, move along.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
“Move along, move along.”
Empirial soldier to Luke Skywalker and Obewan Kenobi-Star Wars IV- A New Hope.
August 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Jonathon,
MSM is dominated by those who vote left. CBS, NBC, ABC etc are staafed by socialists, edited by socialists, and owned by socialists. This means that 90% of the news is processed by socialists a.k.a. members of the Democrat party. You are blowing smoke. Silencing someone in the public square is miles away from not voting for someone who is homosexual, as is the case at the LCRC.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
“Eventually as your comments are de-spammed it is supposed to learn to permit you to post multiple links in your comments.”
Good luck with that — I still have to go in and approve my own posts.