Closing the 'Net'?

"Liberty is always unfinished business."
Anon

I have deliberately not posted on the sad events in Norway - others have, I believe, said all that is to be said, coupled with which there has been a certain amount of hyperbole included; also bearing in mind that what little I have seen on television and read in the press has appeared to be the outpourings of opinion, rather than facts. Unfortunately what the events in Norway have done is to provide politicians with the ideal opportunity to control that which they fear most - free speech.

In May the Guardian reported that Nicholas Sarkozy had called for international regulation of the web, at the G8 summit, something David Cameron was reported to be against. Forward to July and the Guardian reports that David Cameron is in favour of press regulation, but one regulated by an independent body that is free from government interference - although we have yet to see any 'independent' body that is free from government interference, one way or the other. The interconnection between the media and internet cannot be denied, as invariably that which appears in/on the media is, within minutes - if not seconds - placed on the internet by observers world-wide. Because the internet is a global medium logic would dictate that it cannot be caged within national borders.

I have on many occasions accused politicians of wishing to control how we speak, act and think; yet further reflection showed that restrictions on the freedoms of speech and action are meaningless without similar restrictions on the freedom of thought. Politicians may attempt to restrict our freedom of thought by control of the media and their output, but that does not stop the individual's ability to think and thus question the rights or wrongs on any subject.

Once either media or internet is regulated, the result is censorship with the resultant loss of free speech - and if effected it will no doubt be done in the name of prevention of terrorism and the need to negate right-wing activism - a label being applied to Anders Behring Breivik. I have no doubt that the label 'right-wing' that is being applied has been orchestrated by government officials in briefings to the media - yet no-one seems to have queried the fact that left-wing groups, such as Bader Meinhof, also committed mass murder - and the difference is.......?

Not in any way condoning the actions of Anders Behring Breivik, however is it any wonder that a man becomes so mentally confused within his own mind about the rights and wrongs of multiculturalism and what he sees as the damage to the society of his country, acts as he did? Politicians may regulate all they wish but they cannot eradicate the situation whereby one man, or one group, go on the rampage because they see their elected politicians ignoring situations such as this - which demonstrates that whilst actions of word and deed can be controlled, or at least attempts made to control the power of word and deed, the power of thought cannot; and it needs to be remembered that from the power of thought comes the power of action.

It may be that incidents such as occured in Norway could be negated by politicians ceasing their practise of obfuscation and alternately being open and honest; by ceasing to impose their ideas, ideas often originating from bureaucrats social policy dictators who in turn are funded by governments, on the societies they are meant to serve; and lastly by seeking the approval of those they are meant to serve prior to introducing any law or policy - laws and policies that have been proven to be unworkable and ill-thought through in the first place.


Update: A similar view but expressed much better than I is over at Klein Verzt.