The Internet is too powerful a communication device to be left alone by thought police, and I am convinced that it is only prayer and the grace of God that has kept it free in most parts of the world thus far. A reminder of what many want to do came recently when Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, wrote in the New York Times that he wants to use technology to “filter-out extremist material.” He said, “We should build tools to help de-escalate tensions on social media--sort of like spell-checkers, but for hate and harassment.” But who is to define “hate and harassment”? Many Islamists define any negative view of Islam as hate. Many homosexuals define support for traditional marriage as hate. Many feminists define anti-feminist speech as hateful harassment, and many economic liberals and socialists define speech opposing the welfare state as hate. In fact, on some college and university campuses, ANY “offensive” speech is hateful. (Friday Church News Notes, December 18, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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