Frank J directed me to an article in the New York Treason about an alleged movement to introduce civility into blogging and the internet. The abject stupidity of the concept is only outweighed by the gargantuan offensiveness of the idea.

Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?

Yes, and furthermore, why do you even want to? If I want polite conversation, I’ll sit down and talk about the weather with my Mom. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen, as the saying goes.

Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate.

“Guidelines” is Moonbat code for censorship.

Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.

Great idea! Don’t let anyone leave anonymous comments. That’ll fix the problem. I’m certain no one will leave comments as “John Smith,” now that they aren’t allowed to comment anonymously. Also, how are you supposed to keep non-sentient beings from failing to understand the concept of censorship? That is, how do you make a moron understand that freedom of speech means they have a right to a forum, but not that they have a right to my forum? They’re already too stupid to grasp the notion that I have every right to scoop up the dog shit they leave on my lawn. How is a “Code of ethics” going to stop their light speed, full throttle stupidity?

It won’t, that’s how.

It goes on, pissing, moaning, whining, and banging sippy cups on the high chair demanding someone do something about the incivility. It’s your site. It’s up to you to set the standard, an you have every right to do that. If you can’t handle some dope with less intelligence than a soggy noodle telling you that deleting their comment is “Censorship,” you picked the wrong hobby.

Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Wales talk about creating several sets of guidelines for conduct and seals of approval represented by logos. For example, anonymous writing might be acceptable in one set; in another, it would be discouraged. Under a third set of guidelines, bloggers would pledge to get a second source for any gossip or breaking news they write about.

Bloggers could then pick a set of principles and post the corresponding badge on their page, to indicate to readers what kind of behavior and dialogue they will engage in and tolerate. The whole system would be voluntary, relying on the community to police itself.

We already do police ourselves, douchebags. Keep your retarded “Badges” to yourselves. Get a life. I hear the world has three dimensions once you leave Mom’s basement.

D’OH! I wasn’t quite finished yet, but it seems that I used the “publish” button instead of the “save” button earlier today. Continue on…

The Brad Stone article goes on to describe several bloggers who have been on the receiving end of death threats and other sorts of illegal activities. An attempt is made to deliberately conflate illegal activity with undesirable behavior. This is a common tactic of Socialists.

It reminds me of the Leftist Sow that wanted to outlaw spanking, and kept saying how wrong it is to beat an infant, as if spanking an unruly child, and violently beating a newborn baby are in any way similar. Socialist Swine always take an already illegal activity, and equate it with a legal but undesirable one. It’s an underhanded tactic to get reasonable people to agree that something must be done, but it isn’t the criminal behavior that’s the target.

You just have to love the last paragraph:

Mr. O’Reilly said the guidelines were not about censorship. “That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make — believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” he said. “Free speech is enhanced by civility.”

Managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech. Then the kicker, where it even becomes a catchy slogan, “Free speech is enhanced by civility.” You got that, you cretins? Speech is more free when you are told what you can and can’t say. It all makes so much sense now. Thanks for sharing.

Do try to remember, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

UPDATE: Don’t even think about missing out on the one and only Emperor Misha’s take on the Net Nanny Nincompoops – NetKKKops II, This Time It’s Even Dumber. If you came here from Misha’s post, please look around a while, and take note of our Comments Policy.

Category: Pointless Nonsense