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Post by cato on May 10, 2018 10:02:36 GMT
With the overnight decision by Google to ban online ads on the 8th ammendment it is becoming crystal clear the Repeal juggernaut will not tolerate any resistence. When it became clear the No campaign were launching a more effective on line campaign then it had to be stopped. Let's No Platform the anti-choicers!! Blatant censorship.
No posters are being illegally removed and condemned as disgusting when they dare to use the visage of our photogenic dynamic Health minister along with what he plans to introduce into Irish hospitals. Censorship.
He has also refused to debate with his opponents to date as is normal in a democratic election process and claims his new abortion regime is restrictive. A restrictive abortion regime could have been proposed but Harris, Zappone and Varadkar have deliberately gone with an extreme proposal instead. Censorship.
To the best of my knowledge no TV channel plans to actually show us the procedure we are plannning to legalise. We must be protected from such disgusting images unless they are suffering animal posters put up by Vegans. More censorship. This is truly astounding that what we are voting on is too distressing to be broadcast. Yet this is caring compassionate choice in action.
The broadcasting standards authority have binned the requirement for broadcasters to have fair balance on all programmes. The list goes on and on.
If the Hungarian Government banned opposition groups from campaigning on line there would be international outrage. Wait. Is that the sound of a pin dropping?
From the various start of this Repeal process the campaign has been marked with ruthlessness and a cavalier approach to democratic methods. Even apart from the dreadful intention of this referendum the way it is being conducted is profoundly worrying. Irish democracy is being quietly suffocated by huge multinationals with their Irish minions. Anyone remember the claims the Internet was all about Free Speech and expression?
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 10, 2018 10:44:25 GMT
Absolutely agree with all that, but on the whole I would argue that the internet still IS a force for free speech. The very fact that it has to be so clumsily censored shows what a subversive force it is. I think it's wonderful!
Your comment about the "dreadful intention" of the referendum. There should be no such referendum in the first place. If you are even proposing to legalize the destruction of innocent human lives, everything else is only to be expected-- though we should still denounce their shenanigans at the top of our voices, and hold them to their own standards.
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Post by servantofthechief on May 10, 2018 11:44:21 GMT
Google banning advertisements for both sides is honestly better than one or both and is a surprising turn of nuetrality on Google's part. However I have been at the internet game too long and I am far too cynical to think of this as a stand of principle on Google's part, especially not now that we know it is absolutely infested top to bottom with cancerous progressive trash, so I think I agree with Cato on it being part of a wider ploy to silence the pro-lie campaign which has been remarkably strong on the ground as well as online. Facebook leaves wiggle room for international NGOs to post pro abortion advertisements, after all, doesnt Amnesty international have bases everywhere?
Its a sign of weakness on their part, not to mention absolutely none of their posters on the ground produce positive messages (pro life signs are full of smiling women with happy children in their arms, hard to beat that), and their move to ban 'shock' posters is too little too late. (Yes its distasteful to show aborted babies, but at the end of the day, thats ultimately what this referendum is about)
Unlike Cato I am unphased by the democratic illegitimacy of the process so far with the government's and media's censorship actions. Democracy died in Ireland with Lisbon II, why shouldn't the government do all it can to get its way? It clearly doesn't respect the people its supposed to serve, indeed, they wish to kill them in the womb.
God willing the No vote carries the day and carries it by a wide margin, and we'll see the emperor to be as naked as he really is, laying the establishment bare for the enemies of the Irish people they really are.
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Post by cato on May 10, 2018 17:53:23 GMT
Absolutely agree with all that, but on the whole I would argue that the internet still IS a force for free speech. The very fact that it has to be so clumsily censored shows what a subversive force it is. I think it's wonderful! Your comment about the "dreadful intention" of the referendum. There should be no such referendum in the first place. If you are even proposing to legalize the destruction of innocent human lives, everything else is only to be expected-- though we should still denounce their shenanigans at the top of our voices, and hold them to their own I don't for a second believe this referendum should be held but a corrupted ideology has influenced our rulers particularly the born again journeying Repealers who in several cases were explicitly elected to oppose Repeal! It would be interesting to list these turn coats. Is it too much to expect our political opponents to play by the rules? To expect this bad behaviour , cheating etc or to shrug it off is mistaken in my view ,in that it lowers political standards further. Ironically some of those who lament the decline in US democracy are quite prepared to cut corners with ours. There is I believe ultimately a darkness about this Repeal movement and it is obvious they believe the desired end justifies all the sneaky dirty means and tactics. In that sense I agree with your lack of surprise. I was however pleasantly surprised by how media saavy the No campaign is and how it is managing to sucessfully fund raise. It is an uphill struggle but this fight ain't over yet. |
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Post by cato on May 18, 2018 12:26:31 GMT
Any one hear the testimony from the former "Miss C" whose case is often used to undermine the 8th amendment on the RTE 6 pm news?
No ? Well she now has 3 children and denies she knew what her social work minders wanted for her during her pregnancy. She regrets the abortion and claims she had no idea about what was happening.
The item was not highlighted or given any prominence. It was aired 30 minutes into the news and linked to a story of a rape victim relieved to have an abortion. Strange given its' importance that this wasn't highlighted. More subtle censorship.
I recall a discussion on this site once about the desiribility of censorship . Now we are seeing censorship being used on a widespread scale to preserve one of the fundamental pillars of western liberal ideology. We have lost a free press and the ability to have a free fair debate and people seem barely to have noticed.
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Post by cato on May 18, 2018 12:35:33 GMT
Similarly RTE TV will host all of 2 debates. The taoiseach will not take part as he knows this is his referendum to lose. The fact a former pro life gp who has "journeyed" to the opposite shore will not debate this life and death issue speaks volumes.
On radio RTE have held few debates prefering one on one interviews were the pro life speakers get grilled on hard cases and the pro repeal speakers get a much softer sympathetic reception.
Calls have been made for posters to be banned in future campaigns. The rules for debate have been shifted to give less and less opportunity for dissent from the new consensus.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on May 18, 2018 12:51:41 GMT
Similarly RTE TV will host all of 2 debates. The taoiseach will not take part as he knows this is his referendum to lose. The fact a former pro life gp who has "journeyed" to the opposite shore will not debate this life and death issue speaks volumes. On radio RTE have held few debates prefering one on one interviews were the pro life speakers get grilled on hard cases and the pro repeal speakers get a much softer sympathetic reception. Calls have been made for posters to be banned in future campaigns. The rules for debate have been shifted to give less and less opportunity for dissent from the new consensus. It's scary. And I don't mean that rhetorically; it actually scares me. |
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Post by cato on May 20, 2018 7:47:15 GMT
Yeasterday's Irish Times carried a frontpage story stating the Taoiseach had made up his mind the law needed to be liberalised to allowing totally restriction free abortion up to 12 weeks before the Dail commitee had proposed this idea publically.
In public pro life Leo was still adhering to his patronising "journeying" jargon. Some might say this was lying. That too would be uncaring and uncompassionate obviously. Our fearless media have made no comment to date on the Taoiseach's honesty and integrity on this matter. I suspect much of the pro life journeying was opportunistic and politically calculated.
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