There are no absolutes.
That said, any curb on Twitter is probably a good thing!
My Bohemian 2 cents worth of opinion below......
Autocracy can happen no matter what system of power is in place, Hitler was a classic case example of that and he was democratically elected into power.
It can also go the other way as per the French revolution when the people rose up against those that oppressed them, demolishing the church and monarchy, creating a fairer system for all.. I actually like the French model most of all, more so than any other and a big fan of liberty, equality, fraternity. For the most part I feel they got it right.
I am pretty disappointed in the Anglo Australian / English system, as they pander to ethnic minority or special interest groups, over and above any other and the American one seems to be a self appointed global authority, something that never sat well with me. 1000 US military bases that encircle the world outside its borders, isn't my idea of freedom either.
At the end of the day, where humans apply, the governing system of any nation is only as effective as the will of the people, via their level of interest/courage, to ensure that the system functions fairly for the good of the majority of their citizens. Democracy isn't perfect, no system is and is just as fallible if badly managed. Look at the Philippines or better still, India which might be the biggest democracy in the world, but it also suffers being one of the most disorganised and dysfunctional democracies on earth.
I am a huge fan of Geert Wilders, what is going on in Dutch politics at the moment is quite interesting to me. I also agree with immigration policy/reforms that actively assimilates its new immigrants into the mainstream society, which is fair when one puts hand on heart to obey the laws/constitution of a new land that they willingly migrated to.
Apologies for deviating from the original topic, a little, but Ewan asked..lol...
Last edited by Skyhook; 28-06-2012 at 03:24 PM.
Any thread that uses the premise that Twitter is a fundamental tool for democracy, freedom of speech, or non-trivial discourse cannot be taken seriously.
And what are these advancted countries you speak of, anyway?
(There, that was >140 characters!)
Why so dismissive of such new technologies? If you think about it, it is just an alternative forum for open discussion and rapid dissemination of thoughts and ideas etc.
It is not the medium which dictates if discourse is non-trivial but it is the content itself.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using GeoClicks Mobile
Last edited by Loz_2; 28-06-2012 at 03:45 PM.
That's the first time I've heard Twitter is a new technology. A new social networking tool, yeah, but there's nothing particularly new about the tech itself, as far as I've paid attention to it.
In this case, the medium does dictate the nature of discourse. Cramming meaningful, nuanced, messages into a small handful of words is beyond anyone but the most skilled writer. Instead, it generally encourages the use of soundbites. Short, shallow, unfiltered for deeper meaning or thought. I'd point to the recent Kony 2012 incident as why Twitter encourages sensationalist lack of thought.
The best use I've seen is simply for the reposting of short links to longer articles, but the twits themselves offer no meaningful commentary on said articles.