I hate censorship…
Couple things hit today that slightly annoy me. I have no real “right” to be annoyed, but I will be anyway… First off, Blogger now has a button that allows you to Flag Content as Objectionable on a blog. So, pretty much anyone can come in and flag YOUR blog as something they deem objectionable. That, to me, is ludicrous. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. Simple as that. I fear that conservatives and liberals will mark each other’s blogs as objectionable, that religious zealots will mark posts about evolution objectionable, that gay blogs will get flagged etc…
It all sucks in my opinion. The whole point of blogs is the level playing field. It allows you to read ALL views regardless of whether you like the content or not. Coming up with a list of objectional blogs goes against every tenet of free speech that I support. Grrrrr…
Next is a situation where one Domino blogger has banned another from posting comments on his blog. That’s fine, his house and his rules and all of that. The thing I don’t like is that he had to make a post to basically say he’ll ban anything dealing with profanity (his definition) or talking bad about religion. Once again, he’s well within his right to have his rules. That doesn’t mean I have to agree. Myself, being a proponent of free speech, I have to take the good with the bad as well as the vile. Whether I agree or not. And we’re adults. We can’t handle profanity? Well I say fuck that.
You see, this blogger and I came to blows on this profanity issue before. And at the time, I pretty much thought he was a complete dick. Despite that, when I saw him at Lotusphere, I called him over, and introduced myself, and I think by the end of the show, we had become friends. Amazing huh? I KNOW that he’s a great, talented, and fun guy to be around. But banning comments from your blog that you don’t like simply because you don’t like them doesn’t support free speech in any form. So I can disagree with what he’s doing.
It’s well within his right to have rules, after all it IS his blog. I just think stifling anything (other than spam) completely destroys legitimate debate. My opinion. No one has to agree. But know that I won’t be banning anyone from here that is adding something pertinent to a discussion, no matter how fucked up or how inflamatory it may be.
In his post about his rules, he states:
It really is very simple, and also reflects on your professionalism.
On this I will call Bullshit. My lack of faith, and questioning of organized religion, along with my ability to spout the occasional curse word reflects absolutely NOTHING about how professional I am in a business setting. Oh, and um, for the record, I was NOT the person who got my comments banned, so I’m not defending myself here. I don’t even know who it is, it’s just the free speech principle for me 🙂
Here’s the thing. If we’re going to take this metaphor that a blog is like a person’s house, and we consider some of these people friends. It’s like I’m hanging at a friends house. So what I say there does nothing, absolutely nothing, to reflect on my professional status. It’s like chatting with a friend. I do know however that if I were to be at certain people’s houses, I could not have an actual discussion about certain things like religion… So, it just makes me bummed that I couldn’t. Although, the people I consider my closest friends I can. That’s why they are my friends. Oh well.
To sum up, I just dislike censoring any views no matter how vile. Let the person speak for themselves and let everyone decide whether or not they are an idiot. Most times, letting people post gives them enough rope to hang themselves… much like I’m probably doing right now. Oh well. Fuck it.
“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than die with the saints… the sinners are much more fun…” – Billy Joel
August 18, 2005 @ 2:26 pm
Well said and I completely agree although the mentioned website is not just a blog but I consider it as business advertisement too.
Unfortunately censorship seems to be quite common nowadays.
By the way, a great quote.
August 18, 2005 @ 6:00 pm
On that particular blog, I believe one could make a case that allowing certain types of comments reflects poorly on the owner of the blog because, and only because, the blog is intended to drive business for a consultancy. There are other blogs, similarly related to the business of a consultant, where such content would never be banned. It is very much a personal decision about how much control one needs over one’s image. People with long-established reputations in the industry, for example, can get away with more than those just starting out. Those of us who work for corporations and do not have public responsibilities have a much easier decision, IMNSHO. The Lotus Ranger, for example, due to his close identification with Big Blue, could conceivably ban people based on offensive content, and I wouldn’t object. If you did it, on the other hand, I’d have a fucking heart attack…
As you well know, my own tendencies run closer to yours. The only reason I’ve ever banned anyone was for anonymous spamming. I suppose, in an extreme case, I might ban someone who was overly abusive to other visitors. Given the topics I write about regularly, banning offensive or explitive-filled comments would be way too much work.
August 18, 2005 @ 8:08 pm
True Rob, and I do take that into account. Since it is primarily a business blog, I get that. But if someone is claiming to be a business blog, then keep it strictly business (which he mainly does.) I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way because our our prior flap over the issue.
Also, calling someone out about their professionalism is kinda shitty too, because your views on religion and whether you say an occasional “fuck” shouldn’t figure into the equation.
Also, why would someone judge HIM based on comments someone ELSE made? That logic doesn’t quite fly with me really. I like Scoble’s approach to leaving it all there for people to see.
I think I was just on the free speech warpath because of the Blogger story too. I read those two back to back in my news reader and it gave me a sharp pain in my neck…
Anyway, like I said, his house, his rules and I’m fine with that. The free-speech advocate in me dislikes it however… and always will.
Oh, and I’m glad that me banning people because of offensive content would give you a heart attack! Means I’m doing something right here… heheh.
-Grey