Thursday, October 22

Toxic Comment Clusters (2#) -

Why are they found
at one location, but not at others?

Prof Greenslade devotes his column at the Standard this time to the topic of Freedom of Speech. It's unusual in that most articles on this topic which are published by the MSM are written by lawyers.

"But it is also recognised, except by the most fundamentalist of libertarians, that the exercise of free speech carries with it certain responsibilities."

On a somewhat related note, Melanie Phillips writes
a commentary about the Comment is free problem:

"they were erupting into a
human lava flow of bile and bigotry in outrage"


We've had a similar problem locally with the comment threads at the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Recently, they changed their comment system, but I haven't investigated whether any improvement has occurred since the change.

I mostly ignore and avoid it, but it does render the public commentary worthless because the perps just keep parroting the same trite drivel over and over again.

MEGO factor notwithstanding:

Q - Who came up with the 6 million figure?

A - The murderers themselves. They meticulously documented what they were doing because they were proud of it. The court transcripts are available for public examination on the Internet.

By coincidence, I happened to link to a Holocaust Denial news story yesterday, but I tried to be careful about providing the instigator with publicity. I should add that it was a well-written story. I didn't bother to check the comment thread there.

I think a legitimate question
needs to be raised about this problem:

Why here and not there? Why do these two toxic clusters exist at these two locations, but not elsewhere? Perhaps these two organizations are doing something or not doing something different from the rest. If so, what exactly is it in their practices which differentiates these two from the others?

This is an ongoing struggle: the dynamic interplay between freedom and boundaries or constraints. It's like gardening: it's never finished; it's a continuous process.

As usual, there are both similarities and differences between the UK and the US. Prof Greenslade is dealing with the BNP problem on TV over there. We don't have that particular problem here. Instead, we have the Clear Channel Company problem on the Radio over here.

The toxic comment cluster issue at the two newspapers is a difficult problem for which, alas, I cannot provide a facile solution here.

:: Greenslade ::
Getting balance between free speech and censorship.

:: Melanie Phillips ::
-- Intolerable provocation...

...