Slashdot Mirror
Will Australia Follow China's Google Ban?
gadgetopia writes "A news report in Forbes says that China has blocked Google with its great firewall; now the world waits to see if Australia's Minister for Censorship, Senator Stephen Conroy, will do the same following his outrageous attacks on Google."
At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, I should point out that Germany before the 1930's was almost unquestionably the most academically and intellectually sophisticated country in the world. If you had went back to Germany in the 20's and told them that within 20 years, their country would elect one of the most intolerant demagogues and world history as dictator and begin systematically committing the genocide of a sizable portion of their population, they would have laughed at the thought. We always like to think that we're above devolving into brutality, oppression, and totalitarianism; but things can fall apart amazingly fast once you start heading down a certain road. I wouldn't just dismiss it so casually.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
...but things can fall apart amazingly fast once you start heading down a certain road.
They sure do, but it is still by no means certain this legislation will pass. The Australian Government needs the support of the Senate to get its legislation through Parliament, and it has already had several setbacks in that regard, hence the likelihood of a double dissolution election this year.
Conroy himself is an arrogant little shit, and apparently Kevin Rudd is being equally so by leaving the asswipe in that portfolio. But we can hope that the Opposition's taste for obstructionism might yet be put to some worthwhile use.
I am not sure if that is completely right. Sure, Germany in the 20s was on the one hand a academically and intellectually sophisticated country. On the other hand, it was a severely torn country, with large parts of the population not standing behind the transition from monarchy to democracy, a hugely polarized political scene with fighting between communists and fascists on the streets - a pressure cooker waiting for the lid to blow. That is probably actually one of the reasons for the vibrant cultural scene of the 20s, everything being overheated, everything being in overdrive. I am pretty sure that there was a significant percentage at least of the intellectual groups of Germany's society in the 20s who would not have dismissed your prediction, who felt that there was an explosion to come.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.