Free speech for all

You've probably seen this Conservatives4Palin claim to victory on Immoral Minority.

ADN Will Cease Linking to Deranged Nutcases

Just an update - a couple of weeks ago, we pointed out that Mark Dent of the Alaska Newsreader, a product of the Anchorage Daily News, was providing links to screwball blogs that espouse loony Trig Truther conspiracy theories and engage in vile personal attacks on the Palin children.

At that time, I put together a complaint to Pat Dougherty, executive editor of the ADN, pointing out the problems at the Newsreader and providing evidence of this behavior for two blogs in particular - "Palingates" and "Immoral Minority". I also pointed out the propensity of the Newsreader to provide links to primarily anti-Palin sites, with little balance in the way of pro-Palin commentary.

I heard back from Mr. Dougherty today - he told me that the complaint had been discussed internally and that he agreed with its substance. So it appears there will be no more ADN link-love for the fringe tinfoil-hat wearers, and hopefully a little more balance at the Newsreader.

Thanks, Mr. Dougherty.

What can I say? I have every right to criticize anybody or anything I want, be it Sarah Palin or the Pope. That goes for all bloggers, journalists and anybody who has an opinion. People can choose to read what I and others write and form their own opinions, agree, disagree, make comments or not.

I grew up in a country under military rule, at a time when dissenters were arrested, tortured or simply disappeared. When I was at university, I made some remarks about the quality of our library and tried to mobilize fellow students to request an upgrade of said library, to expand the catalogue so we could conduct proper research, etc. There was an article in the law of that time designed to silence students who made any unwelcome noises. I received threats and decided to disappear before they could punish me for such a terrible crime. I didn't want my family to spend the rest of their lives searching for me. That's when I moved to England.

Today I blog from France. Other people do it from Alaska, some write from Nebraska. We are fortunate to live in countries that value and defend free speech. There are places where internet access is limited and their governments attempt to control people's thoughts.

I have never rejected or deleted a comment on any of the posts on palingates and never will.

To the people who don't value freedom of speech and want to gag those whose opinions differ from their own, all I can say is, should they succeed, they would place themselves at risk. They may find themselves silenced by the same arguments they used to silence others.
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