Good catch, Steve. I'd like to offer an enlarged perspective for the consideration of all on this list.
There is always tension in a society between those who favor individual expression, creativity, freedom, diversity, change, and an ambient level of what I would call 'healthy chaos and uncertainty'; and those who favor order, predictability, control, social safety, governmental power, and stasis. Over time, public favor and policy will swing from one of these positions to the other and back again. With the September 11 attacks on the WTC and Pentagon, the pendulum swung swiftly and in panic to the control-and-stasis position. Armies of police, intelligence and counter-intelligence, a military build-up, invasion of other countries, global commando and assassination teams, international propaganda, bullying of recalcitrant allies, closer alliances with right-wing regimes, vast investment in developing an array of anti-personnel weaponry for military and police usage, 'crowd control' equipment and tactics, vast domestic and international surveillance networks, easing of human rights and civil rights protections, suspension of habeas corpus, indefinite detention, torture-based interrogation, intimidation of scape-goated groups, and the rise of near-fascist populist political groups -- all this swept over the United States, followed all too closely though to a lesser extent by a clutch of European countries, ranging from the UK to Holland, Switzerland and France. Undoubtedly,the pendulum will swing the other way, but to the extent that these reactions have been institutionalized in law, regulations, and wired into our cultural mythology, it will take considerable time and political and moral enlightenment, persistence and courage. Wikileaks is only one and perhaps the most dramatic of many instances of people wanting to nudge the pendulum back the other way. The notion reported in your Vancouver Sun article that the findings of scientists should be controlled and censored is only one expression of the societal move toward control-and-stasis. resistance to this policy of the Canadian government is a sign of resistance to the control-and-stasis position. Thoughts? Cheers, Lawry On Sep 16, 2010, at 8:04 AM, Steve Kurtz wrote: > > > http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Tightened+muzzle+scientists+Orwellian/3515345/story.html > > > __._,_.___ > Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic > Messages in this topic (1) > RECENT ACTIVITY: > Visit Your Group > Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use > . > > __,_._,___
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