I can't think of any good reason to defend Gawker media. Even if it has something to do with free speech, it's still a shady commercial click bait advertising agency that deserves no voice in any argument related to it.
If it helps, think of it as defending a principle, rather than defending Gawker.
It's like the ACLU defending the right of Neo-Nazis to march in Skokie. They weren't defending the goose-stepping morons' beliefs, they were defending the right to freedom of speech and assembly (and so, by extension, defending all of us).
(Apologies to Gawker for the Neo-Nazi comparison. You can be bad, but not that bad. Generally. Except for some of the commenters.)
If piracy kills movie franchises, wouldn't that mean that piracy promotes creativity by encouraging the making of original films? Wouldn't that make it a good thing?
On a related note, I guess I'd better start pirating movies, if only to prevent "Expendables 4" from becoming reality. (Please tell me I don't have to actually watch the first three if I download them.)
Taken together, the evidence from New York City and from the five-city social experiment provides no support for a simple first-order disorder-crime relationship as hypothesized by Wilson and Kelling, nor for the proposition that broken windows policing is the optimal use of scarce law enforcement resources.
*Hooray for the Law Commons -- Free and open access.
No need to freak out, folks. I think part of Lisa's point is that Americans do have an unfortunate reputation of arrogance and thinking of the U.S. as the center of the universe. Coupled with a history of military intervention, it can make people uneasy.
So... how about just using Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Although if we wanted to cover all things listed in the First Amendment, we'd also have to include Article 18 (freedom of thought, conscience, and religion) and Article 20 (freedom of peaceful assembly and association).
I'm in favor of preserving anonymity for the sake of freedom of speech, but even if I wasn't....
Have the opponents of anonymity spent time at sites that have switched commenting to require "real names"? If greater civility is their goal, they've failed.
There's more, a lot more, but I don't want to fill up an entire comments section with links (especially since I think I may have accidentally broken a few URLs).
Perhaps you haven't noticed, but racists are held in about the same high regard as pedophiles in the USA, and for good reason: they're idiots who make trouble, and we're sick of it. Problem is, these days so is the other side.
Hi. I'm on the other side.
I'm on the other side because I understand that racism did not magically disappear when we elected a black president.
I understand that entrenched institutional racism has survived even though don't see quite the level of public use of overtly racist language as we used to (although I could introduce you to a cousin of mine who will disprove that in about 5 minutes of "conversation"), the spirit of this lives on in the carefully crafted language of coded racism: "food stamp president", "welfare queens", and yes, "states' rights". You can hear it for yourself: http://www.thenation.com/article/170841/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-stra tegy
Oh, and there are also the ongoing efforts to restrict voting rights, under the guise of "preventing fraud". Here's some reading for you that documents how most allegations of fraud have been completely unsubstantiated, and others have been cases of simple bureaucratic error: http://www.brennancenter.org/issues/voter-fraud
And yes, racism is still a problem, even though we no longer see heavily armed police using dogs and tear gas and fire hoses against peaceful protesters -- oh, wait. We just saw that. (Although the fire hoses were replaced with grenade launchers. Yay. Progrss)
And that's all just racism in the public sphere. We haven't even gotten into private sector employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and oh so many things.
So, yeah, Mason Wheeler. Count me on "the other side."
Uhh - if I was just standing there, and an officer pulls a gun on me (as part of a crowd), I'd pull mine and kill the fucker in self defense as it sure looked like he had the intent of killing me or someone else.
And you'd be shot dead. And probably a whole bunch of people around you would be shot dead. And the police would have legal justification for shooting you. Yeah. Great idea.
Re: Small Town SWAT is Different From Big City SWAT.
Not so different, really.
Escalating violence and stupendous arrogance by police is as much a problem in big cities as in small towns. (And I say that as a resident of the city who helped make SWAT such a popular thing. Darryl Gates left LAPD 20 years ago, but his legacy lives on. Unfortunately.)
Wherever police power is not checked by strong oversight and accountability, a culture of abuse is inevitable. The militaristic escalation just makes it worse.
And for updates on what's happening on the ground, we have 1) a bunch of accidental citizen-reporters and a few big and small media outlet reporters (bravo to the ones who stayed).. On Twitter.
2) A collected live feed... On Reddit.
and... god help us...
3) A live video feed from Alex Jones. $%#$$ INFOWARS has more live coverage than the biggest TV news organizations in the U.S. (But I can't bring myself to click on their feed. I just can't. There were a couple other live feeds up earlier, but they seem to have stopped.)
And as to the response of the police chief when told that his SWAT team had assaulted and arrested two reporters
Ferguson chief tells me @WesleyLowery and @ryanjreilly's arresters were "probably somebody who didn't know better."
I believe the "didn't know better" had nothing to do with the chief's concerns about freedom of the press, and everything to do with: "oh shit this time we attacked people who might have some influence with people in power".
On the post: Reporter Annoyed To Discover He Doesn't Own Facts; Suggests 'Global Paywall' For Reporters Like Himself
Re:
If it helps, think of it as defending a principle, rather than defending Gawker.
It's like the ACLU defending the right of Neo-Nazis to march in Skokie. They weren't defending the goose-stepping morons' beliefs, they were defending the right to freedom of speech and assembly (and so, by extension, defending all of us).
(Apologies to Gawker for the Neo-Nazi comparison. You can be bad, but not that bad. Generally. Except for some of the commenters.)
On the post: Reporter Annoyed To Discover He Doesn't Own Facts; Suggests 'Global Paywall' For Reporters Like Himself
On the post: If You're A Copyright Maximalist 'Piracy' Must Be The Answer To All Problems
Wait....
On a related note, I guess I'd better start pirating movies, if only to prevent "Expendables 4" from becoming reality. (Please tell me I don't have to actually watch the first three if I download them.)
On the post: James Madison, Father Of The Constitution, 4th US President... And Fan Fiction Writer
No vampires
I expected vampires.
On the post: The FBI's Criminal Database Is Filling Up With Non-Criminals And No One In Law Enforcement Seems To Care
Re:
http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2473&context=journal_artic les *
tl;dr:
*Hooray for the Law Commons -- Free and open access.
On the post: Can We Create A Public Internet Space Where The First Amendment, Not Private Terms Of Service, Rules?
Re: Re:
So... how about just using Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Although if we wanted to cover all things listed in the First Amendment, we'd also have to include Article 18 (freedom of thought, conscience, and religion) and Article 20 (freedom of peaceful assembly and association).
On the post: Attacks On Anonymity Conflate Anonymous Speech With Trollish Behavior
Have the opponents of anonymity spent time at sites that have switched commenting to require "real names"? If greater civility is their goal, they've failed.
On the post: Why Do Police In Suburban St. Louis Have More Powerful Weapons Than Marines In Afghanistan?
Why Do Police In Suburban St. Louis Have More Powerful Weapons Than Marines In Afghanistan?
No, wait. That doesn't quite work.
um....
Because the children! Yes, that's it. Think of the children.
And meth. Meth children.
On the post: LAPD Officer Says Tragedies Could Be Prevented If Citizens Would Just Shut Up And Do What Cops Tell Them To
Re: Re: Re: He isn't the only one saying this
So... we're advocating extrajudicial executions as a solution now? I'm sure that will definitely solve the problems of abuse of power.
On the post: LAPD Officer Says Tragedies Could Be Prevented If Citizens Would Just Shut Up And Do What Cops Tell Them To
Re:
Are you anywhere near Ferguson?
On the post: LAPD Officer Says Tragedies Could Be Prevented If Citizens Would Just Shut Up And Do What Cops Tell Them To
Re: Re: He isn't the only one saying this
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes... but...
And try to understand that "I work with a black guy and it doesn't look to me like he's had a problem with racism" is not a data point.
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes... but...
On the post: Boston Police Used Facial Recognition Software To Grab Photos Of Every Person Attending Local Music Festivals
Concert video online?
(Does this mean we can now enlist the RIAA in the fight against government surveillance?)
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes... but...
My cousin (whom I mentioned earlier), upon being called racist:
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes... but...
http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/14/ferguson-police-have-a-long-troubling-re
http://articles.latim es.com/2008/oct/23/opinion/oe-ayres23
http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873
http://www.urban.org/exposing-h ousing-discrimination/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447729/
http://www.justice.gov/opa /pr/2009/November/09-crt-1187.html
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/get-schooled/2014/mar/21/new-federal-re port-racial-disparities-school-disci/
There's more, a lot more, but I don't want to fill up an entire comments section with links (especially since I think I may have accidentally broken a few URLs).
On the post: Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes... but...
Hi. I'm on the other side.
I'm on the other side because I understand that racism did not magically disappear when we elected a black president.
I understand that entrenched institutional racism has survived even though don't see quite the level of public use of overtly racist language as we used to (although I could introduce you to a cousin of mine who will disprove that in about 5 minutes of "conversation"), the spirit of this lives on in the carefully crafted language of coded racism: "food stamp president", "welfare queens", and yes, "states' rights". You can hear it for yourself: http://www.thenation.com/article/170841/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-stra tegy
Oh, and there are also the ongoing efforts to restrict voting rights, under the guise of "preventing fraud". Here's some reading for you that documents how most allegations of fraud have been completely unsubstantiated, and others have been cases of simple bureaucratic error: http://www.brennancenter.org/issues/voter-fraud
And yes, racism is still a problem, even though we no longer see heavily armed police using dogs and tear gas and fire hoses against peaceful protesters -- oh, wait. We just saw that. (Although the fire hoses were replaced with grenade launchers. Yay. Progrss)
And that's all just racism in the public sphere. We haven't even gotten into private sector employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and oh so many things.
So, yeah, Mason Wheeler. Count me on "the other side."
On the post: SWAT Team Shows Up In Ferguson, Detains Reporters Live Tweeting Their Actions
Re: Re:
And you'd be shot dead. And probably a whole bunch of people around you would be shot dead. And the police would have legal justification for shooting you. Yeah. Great idea.
On the post: SWAT Team Shows Up In Ferguson, Detains Reporters Live Tweeting Their Actions
Re: Small Town SWAT is Different From Big City SWAT.
Escalating violence and stupendous arrogance by police is as much a problem in big cities as in small towns. (And I say that as a resident of the city who helped make SWAT such a popular thing. Darryl Gates left LAPD 20 years ago, but his legacy lives on. Unfortunately.)
Wherever police power is not checked by strong oversight and accountability, a culture of abuse is inevitable. The militaristic escalation just makes it worse.
On the post: SWAT Team Shows Up In Ferguson, Detains Reporters Live Tweeting Their Actions
Reporters and reporting
1) a bunch of accidental citizen-reporters and a few big and small media outlet reporters (bravo to the ones who stayed).. On Twitter.
2) A collected live feed... On Reddit.
and... god help us...
3) A live video feed from Alex Jones. $%#$$ INFOWARS has more live coverage than the biggest TV news organizations in the U.S. (But I can't bring myself to click on their feed. I just can't. There were a couple other live feeds up earlier, but they seem to have stopped.)
And as to the response of the police chief when told that his SWAT team had assaulted and arrested two reporters
I believe the "didn't know better" had nothing to do with the chief's concerns about freedom of the press, and everything to do with: "oh shit this time we attacked people who might have some influence with people in power".
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