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Obama Appointee Sunstein Favors Infiltrating Online Groups
megamerican writes "President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated in a recent paper the 'cognitive infiltration' of groups that advocate 'conspiracy theories' like the ones surrounding 9/11 via 'chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine' those groups. Sunstein admits that 'some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true' Sunstein has also recently advocated banning websites which post 'right-wing rumors' and bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. You can find a PDF of his paper here. For decades (1956-1971), the FBI under COINTELPRO focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be engaging bloggers 'who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information.' In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for 'counter-bloggers' to 'counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the US government and the Air Force.'"
Our nation was founded on the concept of dissent, and it is a very important aspect of maintaining a free and civilized society.
However, there ARE people out there who practice irresponsible dissent, and their sole purpose is to disrupt the lives of everyone in order to make a point which most find irrational. I am all for these people getting shut down, so long as those who are responsible and do not infringe on the liberty of others are left in peace.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
The Fairness Doctrine is appropriate for the public airwaves, a shared resource
Bullshit. The Fairness Doctrine is a clear ploy meant to get Democrats more of a radio pulpit since that's the only place conservatives have a voice since they are stuck in the technological stone age. The fairness doctrine, of course, doesn't apply to libertarian views (of whom would oppose it anyway), socialist views, fascist views, communist views, so on and so forth. It is meant to forward the Democratic agenda alone.
Now, are you going to say that the radio waves should just echo the views of the country, and thus the minority viewpoints don't count? So why is the fairness doctrine necessary, again...?
Damn...are we actually going to be able to survive in this country for 3 more years of these bozos?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
You're a 'tard or a troll. Either way, having a conversation with you is akin to having one with this keyboard, so welcome to my killfile.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
Not buying the misdirection and hand waving, sorry. Explain yourself.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton