Noam Cohen writes:
There are practical benefits to the mainstreaming of political protest online. It presents another barrier to censorship.
Mr. Zuckerman said there had been discussion about having a dedicated human rights site — “and we realized that it will be the most attacked site in the world,” he said.
“The response,” he said, “is to say let’s go in the other direction — encourage anyone that has a human rights site to mirror it everywhere, including sites like Blogspot.com with lots of noncontroversial sites. It is kind of hard for Iran to block Blogger.com well, not that it is hard, but it is complicated. They would have close down a lot of blogs, including blogs with cute cats.”
Beyond the practical benefits, there is something satisfying about a country being assisted by ordinary bloggers who suddenly show their skills in organizing and belief in basic political principles. It harks back to heroes like the Roman leader Cincinnatus, a farmer who had to be persuaded to lead the republic in a time of need and after succeeding quickly returned to the farm. Any functioning society needs professional politicians, just as any modern society needs political blogs, but it is good to be reminded that leadership and political voices can come from other ranks.
But, Mr. Zuckerman reminded me, “You have to have the sword at home. You don’t want to have to buy a sword at the last minute.”
Interesting in-depth story at link: Link by Link - As Blogs Are Censored, It’s Kittens to the Rescue - NYTimes.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment