Misleading Emphasis As A Form Of ‘Quasi-Censorship’
Actual censorship always has the highest priority on the totalitarian agenda, but there is also a more subtle alternative method: to misdirect attention from real problems to a minor threat. This encourages acceptance of Draconian measures to limit human rights by making access to information more difficult on the dubious excuse of increasing protection from exaggerated threats. (For entertaining, more light-hearted video examples of the effectiveness of misdirecting attention see http://kenstange.com/yourmanfriday/?p=1558)
It is also the major tool of terrorists. It has proved very effective in the United States, especially since 9/11. Here is an excellent editorial analysis of this in The New York Times: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/fifty-states-of-fear/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Think about this the next time you have to put up with the useless, rude and inconvenient hassles at airport ‘security’. (But don’t say anything or you’ll be in trouble.) And then think seriously about how often your fundamental right to privacy is being heavily and pointlessly compromised (at own your taxpayer’s expense). Also think about how hard the government works to capture and imprison those people, like Assange and Snowden, who had the temerity to inform you about it.
