Etiske dilemmaer: censur

How a new breed of dictators holds power by manipulating information and faking democracyHitler, Stalin, and Mao ruled through violence, fear, and ideology. But in recent decades a new breed of media-savvy strongmen has been redesigning authoritarian rule for a more sophisticated, globally connected world. In place of overt, mass repression, rulers such as Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Viktor Orban control their citizens by distorting information and simulating democratic procedures. Like spin doctors in democracies, they spin the news to engineer support. Uncovering this new brand of authoritarianism, Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman explain the rise of such "e;spin dictators,"e; describing how they emerge and operate, the new threats they pose, and how democracies should respond.Spin Dictators traces how leaders such as Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Peru's Alberto Fujimori pioneered less violent, more covert, and more effective methods of monopolizing power. They cultivated an image of competence, concealed censorship, and used democratic institutions to undermine democracy, all while increasing international engagement for financial and reputational benefits. The book reveals why most of today's authoritarians are spin dictators-and how they differ from the remaining "e;fear dictators"e; such as Kim Jong-un and Bashar al-Assad, as well as from masters of high-tech repression like Xi Jinping.Offering incisive portraits of today's authoritarian leaders, Spin Dictators explains some of the great political puzzles of our time-from how dictators can survive in an age of growing modernity to the disturbing convergence and mutual sympathy between dictators and populists like Donald Trump.

Er det overhovedet muligt både at stå fast på ytringsfriheden ogvære et tolerant multikulturelt samfund, hvor mange minoritetersfølelser og grænser skal imødekommes? Svaret er ikke enkelt.Det ved vi fra Muhammedkrisen i 2005-2006 og Korankriseni 2023.Per Stig Møller dykker ned i ytringsfrihedens og demokratietshistorie for at belyse vores egen tid; fra dommen over Sokratestil Trumps påstand om, at han vandt valget i 2020.Sokrates, Erasmus af Rotterdam, hekseprocesserne, Voltaire,Holberg, Grundtvig, Grundloven, demokratidebatten i 1945 ogGeorge Orwell peger frem mod vore dages dilemmaer. Hekseprocesserneudspiller sig f.eks. i de sociale medier. Og Orwells roman "1984" er ved at blive til virkelighed i form af post truth-samfundet,hvor enhver har sin sandhed, for så er der ingensandhed.Demokratiet er ungt og har svære kår. Vesten er under angrebbåde udefra og indefra. Den vestlige civilisation og kultur er udfordretaf islamismen og den russiske ortodoksi, og folkestyretundermineres af identitetspolitikken, intolerancen og udenomsparlamentarismen.Ytringsfriheden har altid haft vigepligt for andre hensyn, men idag skal den vige for stadig mere: mindretallenes tyranni. Selvtankefriheden er under pres. Men uden ytringsfrihed er der intetdemokrati. Uden satiren mister demokratiet sit salt.

Written by Molly Kingsley, Arabella Skinner and Ben Kingsley, executive members of the campaigning organisation UsForThem, this book forensically exposes how UK Ministers and senior government officials were repeatedly able to make poor quality policy decisions during the pandemic period with only limited scrutiny and too often with catastrophic consequences for the lives of millions. The authors have meticulously evidenced how ethics, good governance, truth, integrity and transparency were grossly compromised during the pandemic period, and how these factors and a deficit of accountability created the conditions for what fast became an economic, social, medical, ethical and child safeguarding disaster. Danny Kruger MP provides a powerfully candid afterword.

"Fictional stories have long been imagined to hold an uncanny power over hearts and minds. These days, everybody frets about fiction: according to the National Coalition Against Censorship, the current wave of book bans is the worst since the 1980s, and our cultural debates are consumed by questions about the politics and moral responsibility of storytelling. Can readers and viewers, at any age, be harmed by what they read and see? In Dangerous Fictions, Lyta Gold traces arguments both historical and contemporary that have labeled fiction as dark, immoral, frightening, or poisonous; within each she asks, how "dangerous" is fiction, really? And what about it provokes waves of moral panic and even censorship?"--

In this thought-provoking and gripping non-fiction exploration, Charlton delves deep into the far-reaching consequences of censorship in ChatGPT, exposing its profound impact on social issues, particularly the harrowing experiences of individuals grappling with homelessness.With a compelling appendix featuring actual conversations held with ChatGPT, readers are granted firsthand insight into the author's relentless struggle to depict the stark hopelessness endured by a character battling homelessness named Sarah, Charlton brings the reader to an unexpected twist that emerges as ChatGPT's persistent bias colors the narrative, obscuring the raw reality.As you embark on this eye-opening journey, you'll confront the unsettling effects of AI censorship and find yourself compelled to question the narratives we consume - to the max. Charlton unveils narratives, challenges preconceived notions and encourages readers to confront the potential of authentic storytelling.Prepare to be captivated as you witness the power of unfiltered narratives and embark on a transformative reading experience.

What’s the truth and what’s a lie? What is the difference between misinformation and disinformation? How can I tell the difference?Looking to weaponize information, talking heads and other so-called experts use disinformation and conspiracy theories to prey on our fears and emotions. Why? It can be to get us to act and behave in a certain way. It may be done for some gain like money, power, or even an election.There is so much being done to create and craft messages to counter disinformation but not as much to explain the infodemic itself. Not much to explain science, health and other topics to those unfamiliar with it. To be fair, it can be difficult to explain one’s field or passion because we are immersed in it and know it well. We don’t always know what others don’t know. What seems obvious may not be.That’s where this book comes in. Fake News, Witch Hunts, and Conspiracy Theories is truth-telling through research and education to help you survive the infodemic.

Mike Hixenbaugh delivers the story of Southlake, Texas, a district that seemed to offer everything parents would want for their children -- small classes, dedicated teachers, financial resources, a track record of academic success, and school spirit in abundance. All this, until a series of racist incidents became public, a plan to promote inclusiveness was proposed in response -- and a coordinated, well-funded conservative backlash erupted, lighting the fire of a national movement on the verge of changing the face of public schools across the country. They Came for the Schools pulls back the curtain on the powerful forces driving this crusade to ban books, rewrite curricula, limit rights for minority and LGBTQ students -- and, most importantly, to win what Hixenbaugh's deeply informed reporting convinces is the holy grail among those seeking to impose biblical values on American society: school privatization, one school board and one legal battle at a time. They Came for the Schools delivers a take on Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, as they demean public schools and teachers and boost the Christian right's vision. Hixenbaugh brings to light connections between this political and cultural moment and past fundamentalist campaigns to censor classroom lessons. Finally, They Came for the Schools traces the rise of a new resistance movement led by a diverse coalition of student activists, fed-up educators, and parents who are beginning to win select battles of their own: a blueprint, they hope, for gaining inclusive and civil schools for all.

A Stunning Look At The World's Most Intriguing Conspiracy Theories And Cover UpsHave you ever wondered what really happened when some of the worlds most amazing conspiracy theories were brought to light. You are about to discover many of the worlds most popular conspiracy theories and what is really known to be true about them, what is thought to be fake and what most people believe. Get ready for the real truth about: The New World OrderThe JFK AssassinationThe Moon LandingWas The Holocaust a Conspiracy?The Vatican ConspiracyAnd so much more!This book is an examination into these proposed theories concerning the history behind the airport, including necessity and funding, strange artwork murals The summary of the evidence will allow the reader to calculate their own conclusions and determine further research on this highly debated matter.

An exploration of the censorship of medical books from their proliferation in print through the prohibitions placed on them during the Counter-Reformation. Forbidden Knowledge explores the censorship of medical books from their proliferation in print through the prohibitions placed on them during the Counter-Reformation. How and why did books banned in Italy in the sixteenth century end up back on library shelves in the seventeenth? Historian Hannah Marcus uncovers how early modern physicians evaluated the utility of banned books and facilitated their continued circulation in conversation with Catholic authorities.   Through extensive archival research, Marcus highlights how talk of scientific utility, once thought to have begun during the Scientific Revolution, in fact, began earlier, emerging from ecclesiastical censorship and the desire to continue to use banned medical books. What‿s more, this censorship in medicine, which preceded the Copernican debate in astronomy by sixty years, has had a lasting impact on how we talk about new and controversial developments in scientific knowledge. Beautiful illustrations accompany this masterful, timely book about the interplay between efforts at intellectual control and the utility of knowledge.

Part memoir, part social history, Journalists and Their Shadows captures the deplorable state of the American media in our time--recording its deterioration, its moments of crisis and ultimately, its transformation as seen through the eyes of a journalist engaged at its very heart through all its phases. The press had a bad Cold War, Patrick Lawrence contends, and never recovered from it, having never acknowledged its errors and so unable to learn from them. Its dysfunctional relationship with the national security state today is strikingly reminiscent of how it was in the Cold War's earliest days. With remarkable fidelity, all the old errors are being repeated. As a result, the mainstream American media have entered into a period of profound transformation, in the course of which independent media are emerging as the profession's most dynamic sector--and represent, indeed, the promise of a brilliant future. A weave of three elements, Lawrence's book offers a searing cultural and political critique, punctuated by the kind of piquant detail only insiders can provide. He also makes the case for a way forward--an optimistic case based on the vitality now apparent among independent media. Here, too, he is at home, providing the book's most original coverage of this brave new world. He draws upon many years in the profession, a multitude of mainstream outlets ranging from his decades as foreign correspondent for the venerable International Herald Tribune to his work now as a columnist for a similar wide range of alternative news outlets such as Counterpunch, Consortium News et al. Shadows probes the psychological dilemma that must be understood if we are to address the current crisis. Journalists in our time are divided within themselves--driven to meet thoroughly professional but ideologically conformist standards, but on the other, subliminally struggling to breach the barriers that preclude the truths they know should be conveyed. This latter, as Jung has put it, is the journalist's shadow. Shadows' case for the reintegration of the divided journalist is striking and original. This record of the American media's increasingly shabby betrayal of the public trust sheds light on why the American public thought and thinks the way it does, how it has become aware that the truth it seeks is absent, and where and how it may yet be able to ferret it out. Here is a guide to the future, in fact, of journalism itself

Told through the lives of the American Century’s most talented and stubborn dissidents, Flights is the archetypal hero’s journey of a group of progressives whose struggle for truth, and for freedom from persecution, sent them into exile, both literal and metaphorical.Wanted for a crime she did not commit, Professor Angela Davis went on the run in 1970, describing the struggle against panic in her nightly safehouse transfers: “Living as a fugitive means resisting hysteria, distinguishing between the creations of a frightened imagination and the real signs that the enemy is near.” In her quest “to elude him, outsmart him,” she recalled, “Thousands of my ancestors had waited, as I had…for nightfall to cover their steps…”Davis is just one of a rich array of refugees portrayed here by Joel Whitney, all forced to flee homes and/or friends because of their progressive stance. In these pages are compelling profiles of Seymour Hersh, Lorraine Hansberry, Graham Greene, Paul Robeson, Gabriel García Márquez, George & Mary Oppen, Frances Stonor Saunders, Malcolm X, Octavio Paz, Diego Rivera, Angela Davis, Leonard Peltier, N. Scott Momaday, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan guerrilla fighter Everado and his American wife Jennifer Harbury, Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú, deposed Honduran President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya and murdered Lenca environmentalist Berta Cáceres.At once a group portrait of these geniuses of creative escape, Flights is also a prehistory (and indictment) of American mass surveillance, culminating in Edward Snowden’s revelations, of torture, culminating in Abu Ghraib, of censorship, culminating in the incarceration of journalist Julian Assange, of fascism, culminating in January 6, and of political murder, culminating in the Bush-Obama-Trump air assassination program.

A bold, groundbreaking argument by a world-renowned expert that unless we treat free speech as the fundamental human right, there can be no others.What are human rights? Are they laid out definitively in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the US Bill of Rights? Are they items on a checklist—dignity, justice, progress, standard of living, health care, housing? In The Most Human Right, Eric Heinze explains why global human rights systems have failed. International organizations constantly report on how governments manage human goods, such as fair trials, humane conditions of detention, healthcare, or housing. But to appease autocratic regimes, experts have ignored the primacy of free speech. Heinze argues that goods become rights only when citizens can claim them publicly and fearlessly: free speech is the fundamental right, without which the very concept of a “right” makes no sense.  Heinze argues that throughout history countless systems of justice have promised human goods. What, then, makes human rights different? What must human rights have that other systems have lacked? Heinze revisits the origins of the concept, exploring what it means for a nation to protect human rights, and what a citizen needs in order to pursue them. He explains how free speech distinguishes human rights from other ideas about justice, past and present.

Those who ask how social entities relate to the past, enter a field defined by competing interpretations and contested practices of a collectively shared heritage. Dissent and conflict among heritage communities represent productive moments in the negotiation of these varying constructs of the past, identities, and heritage. At the same time, they lead to omissions, the overwriting and amendment of existing constructs. A closer look at all that is suppressed, excluded or rejected opens up new perspectives: It reveals how social groups are formed through public disputes upon the material foundations of heritage constructs.Taking the concept of censorship, the volume engages with the exclusionary and inclusionary mechanisms that underlie the construction of heritage and thus social identities. Censorship is understood here as a discursive strategy in public debates. In current debates, allegations of censorship surface primarily in cases where the handling of a certain heritage constructs is subjected to critical evaluation, or on the contrary, needs to be protected from criticism or even destruction. The authors trace the connection between heritage and identity and show that identity constructs are not only manifested within heritage but are actively negotiated through it.

In this edited collection, contributors analyze how the media is navigating Nigeria and its mediated democracy. Scholars of journalism, political communication, and media studies will find this book of particular interest.

This is a comprehensive study of the impact of censorship on theatre in twentieth-century Spain, analysing changes in censorship from the Second Republic to the post-Franco transition to democracy, and illuminating the ideological underpinnings, the effects on the industry and the responses of theatremakers.

From Fox's late-night comedy's star comes this hilarious, politically incorrect, and deeply personal takedown of cancel culture. Many of the funniest lines you've ever heard were off-the-cuff. And now, the woke mob wants to end that.Politically correct progressives and social justice warriors have attacked comedians who dare offend them and try to silence them. This is a curtailment of free speech?and humor. In You Can't Joke About That, Kat Timpf says the quiet part out loud: Comedy isn't about appeasing the woke gods or sending a political message; it's about gasp making people laugh.In her unique, funny voice, Kat shows how many on the left have no sense of humor?and are killing American comedy. She also shares insights from her diverse life experiences and achievements?being homeless, offending Star Wars fans, doing comedy on live television while wearing a colostomy bag, and getting dumped by her boyfriend on an outing with her dad to Coney Island.Thoroughly researched and refreshingly honest, You Can't Joke About That is the book conservatives have wanted to take down Cancel Culture with humor and get America laughing again.

This anthology explores the dynamics through which contested art has lost and gained visibility.

'A fascinating journey into our relationship with the physical book...I lost count of the times I exclaimed with delight when I read a nugget of information I hadn't encountered before' Val McDermid, The TimesMost of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn. All books are, as Stephen King put it, 'a uniquely portable magic'. Here, Emma Smith shows us why.Portable Magic unfurls an exciting and iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium's worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals that, as much as their contents, it is books' physical form - their 'bookhood' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes dangerous magic. From the Diamond Sutra to Jilly Cooper's Riders, to a book made of wrapped slices of cheese, this composite artisanal object has, for centuries, embodied and extended relationships between readers, nations, ideologies and cultures, in significant and unpredictable ways. Exploring the unexpected and unseen consequences of our love affair with books, Portable Magic hails the rise of the mass-market paperback, and dismantles the myth that print began with Gutenberg; it reveals how our reading habits have been shaped by American soldiers, and proposes new definitions of a 'classic'-and even of the book itself. Ultimately, it illuminates the ways in which our relationship with the written word is more reciprocal - and more turbulent - than we tend to imagine.

"Part memoir, part courtroom drama, part primer for fighting assaults on free speech, Stifled Laughter, the revised edition, is the story of one woman's efforts to restore literary classics to the classrooms of rural north Florida. In 2021, 1,500 books were banned in the United States. More than any other year previously recorded. Johnson's honest, often hilarious, first-person account of censorship in its modern form provides valuable insight into why what our children read at school remains a controversial issue, and why free speech in America remains a precarious right. For anyone who has ever wondered just how far the religious right will go in limiting free expression, this book proves once again that the personal is political. Parents and teachers, writers and readers-all will benefit from Johnson's experience and all will be touched by her spirit"--