Is First Amendment The Primary Rule For Blogs And Newspaper Forums?

This past week I had to make a decision about whether to post a certain comment from a reader or not on this blog.  The person wrote a very long and highly charged response to a political post here, and made it sound as if ‘any means’ to stop the election of a person to the White House might mean more than defeating a candidate at the ballot box.  It was way over the top, and really quite reprehensible.  The comment was deleted. 

The comment raises yet again a most interesting set of questions in this new world we live in, as we obtain more news and information from online sources.  Blog sites are not the only ones in need of some answers, as newspapers that have online forum sites where the public can weigh in with conversation on a whole set of topics, also might be in need of guidance. 

While no one should have any concern about deleting the type of comment mentioned above, there does seem to be questions about other types of offensive speech.  I admit I have no clear answers to the issues that confront bloggers and other type of forums.  I do however have a series of questions.

For instance, how far should a blogger allow a person to comment on racially divisive matters regarding immigration when the words used are the kind intelligent people would not use in dinner conversation?  Should I allow a person to use the “N’ word here on my blog while commenting, when I would not want to read it on another’s blog?  Or in the online forum section of The New York Times?

Perhaps more murky and questionable is the role and responsibility that we have as bloggers.  Do I have a responsibility to insure accuracy (as best I can) over issues that have major consequences? 

For example if a comment paints Iraq as being responsible for 9/11 (it was not) do I allow that to be published knowing that far too many thought it to be true, and it added to the national mood that resulted in a war?  False information repeated endlessly has a way of becoming the truth.  Do I want to be a part of the echo chamber of lies?  We all witnessed that very thing, as we all know too well, and now continue to pay the price for being lied to as a nation.

When charges fly in hate filled messages about Barack Obama and his faith, and readers try to paint him as a radical Muslim do I have a duty to stop the lies since Obama is a Christian?  (Forget for the moment that religion should not even play a role in the first place when deciding a leader for our nation.)  Do I have a higher responsibility to the First Amendment by allowing dreadfully false comments to be posted, or to the facts about the man who could be our next President if we do not allow lies from preventing it?

If someone were to verbally gay-bash in a comment to a post should I have ethical qualms if I delete it?  Or should I consider all conversation to be equal and part of the larger dialogue that can now happen as a result of the internet age we live in?  

These questions have gripped me for some time and I have mixed answers.  Am I a blogger AND a gatekeeper?  If I am a gatekeeper then do I undermine the civil rights I champion when fighting for freedom of speech?

As we journey down the technology road these are issues and questions that need to be addressed.  I know that this blog is but a drop in the ocean, and yet I feel a duty to act in a responsible manner.  For the most part I have very few examples of the shallow end of the swamp posting here on my blog.  Most of that type are not reading my liberal blog from Madison.  But after the comment that needed to be deleted this past week I have a new found sense of  what many others deal with on perhaps a more frequent basis. 

I trust they also are concerned about the larger issues that develop as a result.

Technorati Tags: FirstAmendment, Blogs, NewspaperForum, FreeSpeech, Censorship

“The Tin Man” Has Awesome Blog Response To Barack Obama Speech

Always thoughtful and well worded, “The Tin Man ” provides an insightful look at the speech made my Barack Obama on Tuesday concerning race relations in America.  It deserves a full read at his site.  A portion is here below.

It’s not an easy speech to digest. You have to do a little more work to understand it than you have to do with most politicians’ speeches. It’s only words, but it demonstrated a fine understanding of the racial divisions that contribute so much to mutual suspicion and animosity in our country today. And, not incidentally, Obama also did a fine job, I thought, of explaining that sometimes, you have emotional ties to people in your life who may say things and hold beliefs that you profoundly disagree with. You might choose to shun these people. Or you might choose not to shun them, because even though you disagree with them, they’ve become like family to you, and you prefer not to shun family.

And yet some people think it’s their place to judge Obama for the choice he’s made.

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I’m tired of reading comments by people who think it’s their place to judge how another human being handles a particular situation. As I said, I’ve seen similar comments on numerous blogs in the last 24 hours, and it frustrates me to no end. People are coming to a situation with their preconceived notions, and they won’t let anything change their minds.

I’ve been guilty of this myself, of course. In this political season, I’ve felt a visceral dislike of Hillary Clinton over the last couple of months, and I’ve expressed it on this blog. I’ve been trying to combat that dislike. I can’t presume to know what’s in her heart or her mind. I don’t think she’s an Ambitious Dragon Lady; I think she has deeply held, deeply felt beliefs about health care, and about children, and about making this country a better place. I don’t know if she has the political skill to achieve her goals as president; she might be deluding herself, as all politicians do (including, perhaps, Obama). And I think she’s made some dishonorable political choices in this campaign. My primal instinct is to hate her guts and hold her in contempt for the way she’s conducted it. But I’m trying to get past that, because, really, what the hell do I know?

“What the hell do I know.” I wish more people lived by that creed instead of feeling secure in their certitude. I try to, even though I’m not nearly as successful at it as I’d like to be.

Technorati Tags: TheTinMan, BarackObama, Election08, Democrats, Racism, Race, HillaryClinton

100,000 Readers!

Dear Readers,

James made the graphic for this post, and it echoes how I feel about my little piece of cyberspace.  Lots of color and passion.  I started Caffeinated Politics 807 posts ago on July 14, 2006.  I had the hope that this blog would not only discuss news and politics with passion, (hence the name of the blog) but also comment on diverse topics not found elsewhere, but that are of interest to me.  From Madison, Wisconsin (where I live) to Dubai, (where I would love to travel) this blog reflects who I am, and what I think.

That is why Del Reeves fans, anti-war liberals, clean government types, space buffs, advocates of gay marriage, and lovers of books and newspapers all find a home here on Caffeinated Politics.  And that eclectic style of blogging will continue.  One never knows what the next post will contain.

The 100,000th reader was from Cheyenne, Wyoming.  I wish to thank all those who stop by and visit.  You are appreciated.

All the best,

Gregory

“The New Nixon” A Blog That Serves History And Politics

This is one of those posts where my complexity is on parade.  I think that the average reader of this blog understands the political themes here are liberal and socially progressive.  But since this blog is more than just current news and politics there are those times when readers might say, “What!”  I suspect for some this might be such a post.  But as a history buff I know I am not alone in my enthusiasm for the latest big entry this week in the blog world.

On Presidents’ Day the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation started a blog “The New Nixon”, in an effort to be a part of the national dialogue and excitement during this amazing and historical election year.  As the first post on their blog states this is the start of a dialogue about the continuing role that Nixon’s policies play in our nation’s history.  And as one who has studied Richard Nixon extensively for many years, it is quite clear to me that in spite of the more troubling aspects to his career there is plenty for even a liberal to be pleased with. 

His grand political life is worthy of constant review and updating.  We will never see one again that spans the decades, encounters the crises, or intersects with the legendary world personalities in the same way that RN did.  One only need be a history buff to be enthralled with the life and times of Richard Nixon.

One such post reads in part…

It’s a great pleasure to welcome The New Nixon to the blogosphere. I think the thirty-seventh president would have been both fascinated by the power this amorphous nowhere-and-everywhere cybersphere now wields, and appalled (but also sometimes at least a little titillated) by the license it allows and even encourages.

It is entirely fitting that Richard Nixon, old and/or new or anywhere in between, should now be debuting in cyberspace. Although personally he tended to observe a hands-off policy where machinery was concerned, his offices always adopted the latest technology. By the late 1960s, the IBM Selectric II typewriters in every White House office seemed to represent The End of History as far as written communication was concerned; it was impossible to imagine that further invention could possibly improve on the interchangeable pop-in typeballs and the built-in correction ribbons. (Although Rose Mary Woods remained faithful to her IBM Executive model long after the rest of the staff had eagerly joined the Selectric’s ranks.)

Some senior staff members had WACA (White House Communications Agency, which was run by the White House Military Office) telephones in their cars; the mobile handsets were the same size as the desk phones and the support module was the size of a small overnight bag. Some offices had fax machines that were the size of large microwaves (although widespread use of microwaves was still several years in the future). The fax paper, which was slickly coated, came on huge rolls and a lot of cutting and smoothing was involved before the document was ready for reading.

President Nixon would have been intrigued with the roles the blogosphere now plays —goad, gadfly, pacesetter, fact checker, and bs detector being only a few among many others— on the national news scene. Winston Churchill spoke as early as the 1930s about the power of the press and the equally important power of the suppress. And in 1931 Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin famously railed against the unchecked power of some British press proprietors as “power without responsibility — the prerogative of the harlot through the ages.” And that situation (where the operative axiom was never to pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel full) remained unchanged until about ten years and one month ago.
Technorati Tags: RichardNixon, TheNewNixon, Blogs, Republicans, Politics

Fellow Blogger In Saudi Arabia Needs Our Support After Being Detained

The idea that anyone would censor my thoughts or try and limit my views from being posted on my blog is impossible for me to consider.  The idea that I might be held for interrogation by my government for ideas I post is something I may joke about given the climate in the White House, but it is nothing I seriously am concerned about.

That however is not the case for Fouad al-Farhan, a blogger in Saudi Arabia who is being detained for posting about political prisoners in that country.    Mr. Farhan had written to his friends recently alerting them to the fact that his arrest was coming.

“The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia, and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue,” the letter continued, saying that Mr. Farhan had been asked to sign a statement of apology.

“I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that,” he wrote. “An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is a liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?”

I urge my readers and fellow bloggers to show support for this man by posting entries on his blog (www.alfarhan.org)  (or the English version http://en.freefouad.com/) to show that there is international support for freedom of speech and political debate.  The blog can be found under a banner that reads “Free Fouad” and features his picture. 

At the top of Mr. Farhan’s blog is a call in Arabic for “freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and the other lost Islamic values.” People from around the world need to step up and address this detention in strong words.

Far too often we spout the virtues of democracy and freedom of speech, but then do too little to advance those causes in real and meaningful ways.  Without ever leaving your computer chair you can make a statement and a difference.

Speak up for a fellow blogger than cannot do that for himself at this time.

Technorati Tags: SaudiArabia, Fouadal-Farhan, Blogger, FreeSpeech

Bloggers Need To Moderate Comments

There has been much discussion in the last day about the Wisconsin teacher who posted an anonymous comment online praising the Columbine shooters.  The comments were made on a conservative Wisconsin blog site.

For many bloggers there is an assumption that they are an extension into the world of journalism.  I am not assuming that is the mindset of the blogger that set off this story.  Having once actually worked as a reporter, I do not pretend to be one here on Caffeinated Politics.  But there does seem to be a growing belief that bloggers are the new world of journalism.

But if we assume that blogs are a form of journalism, then should we not also expect the standards of a newsroom to also apply to these online efforts?

What is written, both in a blog post and in the comments section, should adhere to some ground rules of good taste and common sense.  If you could not print the text in either the news or editorial sections of the New York Times, or the Wisconsin State Journal there might be good cause to second guess if it should show up on a blog.  This in no way limits free speech, but just allows a higher standard to exist.

The comment that spawned this news story should never have been posted.  There are times when censorship is warranted.  Though it is usually not required, a blogger must understand their responsibility in this new era of information and technology, and then make the correct decisions.

In other words, much like an editor of a newspaper, we need to sift out ‘the letters to the editor’ to insure that we do not create havoc or potential injury with irresponsible speech.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Bloggers, WisconsinStateJournal,