Thursday 29 January 2009
Saturday 24 January 2009
speech - when to say and when not to say
Just been listening to some Chomksy talking on youtube. I am interested in the question of freedom of speech. Do I have the right to say things that would cause the death of many others, even if my hand is not the cause of their death, but the result of the context in which I speak? The site of the utterance I have already discussed being the underlying content rather than the content.
Saturday 10 January 2009
Thoughts - propoganda
I was thinking about freedom of speech again today. It is obviously important to be able to freely express your opinions. But, at the same time things like the MMR scare illustrate the power of comment, and the lack of criticality in the general public. The press in the west is not 'free' we pay for it, and they write and cover what the general public is interested in, and its reportage manner is generally lacking in complexity, whether that be in-depth / historically or contextually based.
Has there been a survey of the type of vocabulary used in left newspapers over the last 20 years and how has its difficulty/accessibility has changed.
Is there any relation between freedom and speech and consumerism?
I am living in China and i like it here, but freedom is speech is not the same. It is not really what I say, but where it is said, what context it is placed, who I am saying it to. Or, rather who really is my intended audience. There are similarities in the UK, there are many things I can't do, for example read out a list of the soldiers who had died in the Iraq war anywhere near Whitehall (I can't remember whether this is still the case). But, ridiculous as it is or was it was very real. There is thought and things said that aren't in awe of China's government here.
In the UK, I also felt that there were things that I could not say. The power of shared Nationhood is just as powerful, but the consequence may well be different. The construction of political correctness, the UK's idealism of multiculturalism and individualism, ironically is its national heart that is not to be criticised. How does that fit with freedom of speech? The UK's multiculturalism is represented as still something that is subservient to the state, brought about because of those in power. The balance of power is still, what the government/controlling authorities can do for you (they hold the power + control + decision making) and not what the people can do for themselves and there country.
Anyway I am especially interested in looking at how the Chinese and UK government bodies promot themselves in the building up to 2010 and 2012.
So far we have the Olympics with the torch hand over illustrating the two differing attitudes to the construction and maintainance (perpetuation) of the myth of the nation state.
Has there been a survey of the type of vocabulary used in left newspapers over the last 20 years and how has its difficulty/accessibility has changed.
Is there any relation between freedom and speech and consumerism?
I am living in China and i like it here, but freedom is speech is not the same. It is not really what I say, but where it is said, what context it is placed, who I am saying it to. Or, rather who really is my intended audience. There are similarities in the UK, there are many things I can't do, for example read out a list of the soldiers who had died in the Iraq war anywhere near Whitehall (I can't remember whether this is still the case). But, ridiculous as it is or was it was very real. There is thought and things said that aren't in awe of China's government here.
In the UK, I also felt that there were things that I could not say. The power of shared Nationhood is just as powerful, but the consequence may well be different. The construction of political correctness, the UK's idealism of multiculturalism and individualism, ironically is its national heart that is not to be criticised. How does that fit with freedom of speech? The UK's multiculturalism is represented as still something that is subservient to the state, brought about because of those in power. The balance of power is still, what the government/controlling authorities can do for you (they hold the power + control + decision making) and not what the people can do for themselves and there country.
Anyway I am especially interested in looking at how the Chinese and UK government bodies promot themselves in the building up to 2010 and 2012.
So far we have the Olympics with the torch hand over illustrating the two differing attitudes to the construction and maintainance (perpetuation) of the myth of the nation state.
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