Don't get me wrong. I realize there are places expressing your opinion lands you in jail or worse. After all, I lived through apartheid, South American right-wing dictatorships and the Cold War. But the differences between speaking and publication in the pre- and post-Internet worlds have led to isolated voices being far more prone to the jackbooted. So what was once something discussed in the street can now be read by millions and can be erased.
Even so, doesn't The Committee To Protect Bloggers sound a wee bit over the top? It's all fine and good as an aspiration - but have they actually protected a blogger? Say what you like about Greenpeace and their methods but they have been there between harpoon and whale. Médecins Sans Frontières are out there near the battlefields. The CPB has a Facebook page and recommends Twitter.
Maybe the comparison is not fair. The tracking of who is saying what is much like the needle in the haystack. Maybe all that can be done with limited resources and that little obstacle called totalitarianism is write reports. Maybe they just need a better name.
Comments
Ben (The Tiger) - June 18, 2008 11:39 am
How about "Amnesty International"?
That group description sounds like what Amnesty International was, before it decided that the main threats to human rights were in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Alan - June 18, 2008 12:43 pm
I think your trendy knee-jerk-ish last line, however common in certain circles, is dismissed with a 2 second review of the AI website. Maybe you have issues with the non-exclusion of the US and Isreal, another trendy position?
sean liddle - June 18, 2008 2:15 pm
Oh cripes. What a silly group of people. Protect Bloggers? How about, Bloggers protect themselves. You can write what you want so long as it is not intentional defamation or libel, and if you ARE planning on poking a stick at a sleeping bear, just make sure it is done with backup information, readily available to prove you aren't making up your rantings.
The world is full of annoying namby pamby clubs where people support one another's "right" to be loud and needy. Ugh. Gag me with a spoon.
NYCO - June 19, 2008 8:21 pm
What the heck is the "Universal Deceleration of Human Rights" referenced in that site's header graphic? I thought it was the "Universal Declaration" of same?