Category Archives: Censorship

Some Resonant, Relevant Quotes on Free Speech and the Charlie Hebdo Massacre From The #MetaFilter Thread #jesuischarlie

So I wrote about the Charlie Hebdo massacre in a rather rambling manner the other day. I’m still thinking about what happened a lot – the conflict between unrestrained freedom of speech defenders (here!) and a sort of “Can’t we all get along/be kind and non-offensive to everyone” reaction which I have some sympathy to but […]

#JeSuisCharlie (And Some Tangents About Language, The Nature of Offense and the Unintended Consequences of Trigger Warnings)

Trigger Warning: This essay contains ideas you might not agree with. You’ve probably heard about the terrorist criminal attack today in Paris that targeted journalists and cartoonists with a satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. Instead of trying to write an essay to capture my thoughts (since The Onion did a pretty good job on that front already), I’ll […]

Why Librarians Defend The Right To Watch Porn at the Library

This is a great article on an important topic but my short answer is this: “Beyond limits set by the existing laws of the land, no one should have right to tell anyone else what they can read/watch/listen to.  Period.” To expand on this a bit… I’ve seen patrons watching things that are a lot […]

Today in Piracy (er, Grey Market Copyright Activity)

Pirate Bay taken down by Swiss authorities It will likely be up again very soon in a different form and/or with a different URL SaskTel rumoured to begin sending copyright infringement notices to its Internet customers in the new year

The Falling Man: The Most Famous Image Most People Haven’t Seen

Originally published in 2011, an article about an infamous photo of a man in mid-flight after jumping from the World Trade Centre also raises some interesting points n how much our world has changed since 2001 and raises some questions on how it might have been different had a similar disaster occurred in 2014?  Would the […]

VPL Strikes Blow For Freedom of Expression!

Vancouver Public Library has recently made news in libraryland with a controversial revised Internet Access Policy that added a restriction specifically addressing patrons viewing “explicit sexual images”. And I, for one, am glad to see that Vancouver Public Library has taken this important step! For far too long, libraries have allowed patrons to view any and […]

Too Many Tabs Tuesday

Here are a few things that caught my eye this past week… What are the best new products nobody knows about? (Quora) How We Die – Then and Now: Comparing Causes of Death, 1900 v. 2010 (Infographic) What Radiohead Song Always Moves You To Tears? (Reddit) How Poverty Taxes The Brain (Infographic) Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” […]

Music Monday – “But they don’t give you any choice/’Cause they think that it’s treason/So you had better do as you are told/You better listen to the radio”

A classic SNL musical performance confirms that controversy inevitably becomes commodity… “Radio, Radio” – Elvis Costello

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin Gives a NSFW Defense of Gay Marriage

Hell yeah! (h/t to JK or FB)

Saturday Snap – “Who Needs A God When You’ve Got Satan”

  There’s a certain level of irony that I spent part of my Good Friday watching a band from just behind a guy who was wearing a “Who Needs God When You’ve Got Satan” t-shirt. 😉 But I should probably back up a bit… Shea and I spent Friday doing a bunch of spring cleaning […]