Comments on: Soft Power and Soft Thinking

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:09:41 +0000

I know I’m writing this on the Internet, and thus am a dangerous thinker and prone to playing violent video games and being addicted to pornography, but I would vote Liberal in an instant if they promised to drop this stupid, stupid, nanny-state proposal.

The reality is that any government-imposed censorship will inevitably lead to “inconvenient” points of view being blocked. Just like politicians can’t resist editing their own wiki pages, the temptation to control the terms of the debate is too strong.

“No-one could object to us blocking hate speech from neo-Nazis on the Internet” can quite easily change to “No-one could object to us blocking websites by the Exclusive Brethren” … and the slippery slope from here is clear.

By: Tel

Tel — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:33:24 +0000

As an ex-diplomat the Prime Minister must surely be familiar with the concept of soft power, or as we call it, not acting like a tosser.

I’m sure he is even more familiar with the concept of “lip service” and “fooling some of the people, some of the time”.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:56:03 +0000

It will surely enhance our soft power no need – so many things topics of mutual interest!

Does Kim-il Carr get a gong? He’d be mighty sore at missing out on Detailed Study of Optimal Industry Enhancement Programs with the comrades wouldn’t he?

By: Tobias Ziegler

Tobias Ziegler — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:09:55 +0000

A bit like US Senators loudly voicing their concerns that the Chinese are going to spy on visitors' telecommunications during the Olympics.

By: Francis Xavier Holden

Francis Xavier Holden — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:53:24 +0000

Not to mention that a lot of the technical advances in ISP censoring will be thanks to knowledge gained by google and others on how to censor properly in China.