Comments on: Bill Clinton Wants to Censor and Monitor the Internet! http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/bill-clinton-wants-to-censor-and-monitor-the-internet/ Defending Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Wed, 22 May 2013 03:35:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: The Elephant's Child http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/bill-clinton-wants-to-censor-and-monitor-the-internet/#comment-7708 Mon, 16 May 2011 02:21:36 +0000 http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/?p=19639#comment-7708 Liberals have an interesting relationship with the truth. They all repeat the same talking points, and the repetitiousness convinces them that the talking points are indeed fact. And if conservatives disagree with their policy preferences, that, by definition, is falsehood. Because their opinions are represented by talking points, or bumper-sticker short slogans, when challenged they are unprepared to defend their point of view, and fall back on claiming that their opponent lies. Makes intelligent conversation difficult.

With such a flood of information on the internet, it might be useful to teach kids how to sort the wheat from the chaff. There are clues to discern misinformation and propaganda, and ways to confirm what you read without extolling any particular site as a certified purveyor of truth. Or why Wikipedia is not always the answer. Good comment, Zeus.

]]> By: zeusiswatching http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/bill-clinton-wants-to-censor-and-monitor-the-internet/#comment-7707 Mon, 16 May 2011 02:02:11 +0000 http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/?p=19639#comment-7707 I doubt the former President had Wikileaks in mind. Mr. Assange wans’t spreading false info, if he was it would have been a lot less harmful. The guy spread very real, leaked information. Frankly, law has done a good job of keeping pace with technology. If Mr. Clinton was worried about liable, slander, blatant falsities, there is a lot of legal recourse. I think, dare I still express an opinion on the ‘net, that Bubba doesn’t like the instant transmission of contrary points of view, complete with facts to back up those views.

Of course, the Internet is hardly a right-wing bastion of anything. What it is, in free countries at least, is a way to convey ideas and counter arguments very quickly, and often quite effectively with just a very few people, left or right wing leanings not being relevant, capable of putting together a lot of information using a lot of media formats. The Internet is to old format media is the printing press to the scriptorium in another age.

Fact checking what Bill Clinton says has never been easier. Anyone can now bring up dictionary.com and look at the definition of “is.”

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