If there’s one phrase the media loves, it’s “a chilling effect.” Whether it’s the Patriot Act, censorship laws or nudity bans – it always causes a chilling effect on something (usually my toes).
This “chilling effect” is defined as speech suffocated by fear of punishment. The media would fear that this fear may cause people to censor themselves – killing free speech. How weird though – that, no matter what – this chilling effect never happens! I mean, if anything, people won’t shut up. See Kanye West.
So it kills me that now we have a real attack on free speech, one that will have a lasting, “chilling effect, ” and it was brought on by a leftist group – i.e.Wikileaks! Which is pro-free speech!
By releasing secret documents, it killed dialogue. The chilling effect is real.
And maybe deadly. One revelation: China was fine with a reunified Korea. That won’t please the North, who are already lobbing rockets at the South. By dumping those cables, Wikileaks just changed history, instigated war, and doomed peace.
But Julian’s just fighting evil, says Julian!
So yeah, this will have a chilling effect. On all of us. Seriously, what makes you think Wikileaks, or something like it, won’t make your private emails public? All those jokes sent to coworkers? The weird jpegs of Hungarian weightlifters? I’m worried.
So in a way Wikileaks may be helping us: killing a freedom we never had. Bandwidth was never ours to begin with – as shown by a punk stealing Palin’s password, the climategate emails (which the New York Times found distasteful, unlike the Wikileaks stuff), and now this diarrhea of diplomatic dirt.
It’s probably time to return to the oral legend.
At least it’ll get me off porn.
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