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by IX_Hispana 1748 days ago
The news are the fuel? Right, had reddit banned links to news about 9/11, maybe the US wouldn't have gone to war. It was not the fake WMD's or the lucrative war industry contracts. It was the news reports.

One of the first things the Americans did in Iraq was to shoot at a hotel full of journalists. They killed a Spanish journalist called Jose Couso. His family tried to get justice for 10 years. Even Wikileaks tried to help. They couldn't do anything. He had been effectively silenced and they got away with it. Still, more journalists went and told us what was going on, so you should be thanking the news.

What reddit banned wasn't a smear campaign of fake news. It was an accurate account of something which had happened. They decided the public shouldn't know about it. The only thing that does is people learn about it from media linked to the other side. It just destroys trust. "What else don't they want us to know?" People are going to learn about it anyway. They're just going to read it from a media that's far less sympathetic. So that's a pretty bad own goal. There is no suppressing the news altogether. Can't be done. Have a think about this one.

Hiding stuff and lying is never good for the public. Transparency and truth are good things, even when they don't help your side, because better informed people make better decisions. The trick is to be on the side of transparency and truth, and to update your opinions accordingly, rather than falling in line under a partisan flag or banner and suppressing conflicting evidence.

There is no dogwhistle here. Reddit banned discussion because they're partisan and the news hurt their side. Sorry.

Finally, it's very funny the guy in favour of suppressing the news is calling the guy in favour of transparency and open media a cryptofascist.

1 comments

Hi, again, we're talking about the USA. A serious number of people believe that Fox News is not only reputable, but the only reputable news organization operating in the USA. CNN is considered trusted and mainstream. Who do you think was pushing fake WMDs? I grew up in the USA during this time, and I recall how the media embraced the neoconservative narrative.

Also, seriously, stop blowing the fucking dogwhistles. "Even Wikileaks tried to help," you say? Did Wikileaks send their peacekeeping forces, raise the issue in UN, wage a legal fight in USA courts to stop the killing? The Yes Men did more to stop the Iraq & Afghanistan wars than Wikileaks.

You're still hearing whistles? Are you sure is not tinnitus?

Good luck trying suppress the news further. You may find temporary success. But dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And as long as men die, liberty will never perish.

We're done.