Slashdot Mirror
Thai Government To Close 400 Anti-government Sites
Will Lord writes "The Guardian is reporting that the Thai government plans to close down 400 anti-government websites and is asking ISPs to block 1,200 more. The response follows a declaration of a state of emergency which has seen troops take to the streets of Bangkok to police anti-government protests.
With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent, do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?"
How many times do you hear about the fact that Walmart could not expand and make as much profit without the existence of government welfare programs? Or that the FBI employs fewer than fifty people who know Arabic? I can link you to one story about each of these items, but try to find them on your own. Now look for meaningless stories about sports, celebrities, fashion, celebrity news. There are tens of thousands of individually written stories about Brangelina's baby, but as far as I can see, not a single major news organization wrote anything about the Secretary of Defense claiming that the government had lost 2.3 trillion dollars on September 10th, 2001. How in the world is that just a coincidence?
Sure, you hear about "scandals," which is little more than confirmed political gossip. The real and sensible criticism of government and business simply isn't covered, though it does exist. You have to look for it, because no news corporation is going to endanger their profit, their friends, or their access to government power for the sake of society.