Are the Democrats bigger censors than the Republicans?

[Darth Wong]

I mean to ask for counter-evidence. Not offer.

Since the guy you quoted offers no evidence of his own other than his say-so, why is it necessary to produce counter-evidence? The mere fact that he cited the V-chip as "censorship" tells you he's a dishonest fuck anyway. What's next? Accusing stereo manufacturers of "censorship" because they include a mute button on the remote control?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Not at all. I had suspicions of his being a dishonest fuck when he cited Hate Speech laws as one of his rationales for Democratic censorship. The Jack Valenti stuff seemed like a good reason, but on retrospect perhaps not. Still, I was hoping that anyone was aware of any major censorship bills sponsored by Republicans.

[Darth Wong]

Not at all. I had suspicions of his being a dishonest fuck when he cited Hate Speech laws as one of his rationales for Democratic censorship. The Jack Valenti stuff seemed like a good reason, but on retrospect perhaps not. Still, I was hoping that anyone was aware of any major censorship bills sponsored by Republicans.

That's not the Republicans' style. Instead, they take existing institutions and laws such as the FCC and obscenity laws, and then attempt to abuse them. Hell, the President committed all manner of abuses against citizens and foreigners without bothering to sign bills. He just ordered it, and it happened.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Okay, that's the kind of analytical response I was looking for in this thread. Merci beaucoup.

[SirNitram]

Anyways, are there any particularly egregious examples of GOP censorship emanating from Congress in the Bush or Clinton administrations? Or was it more localized to Republican administration of the FCC?

The sticky bit here is that you need to decide how to define censorship. Technically, the nipple-slip superbowl moment wasn't censored; it was there. There were heavy fines. Is that censorship? I would say yes, your mileage may vary.

A ratings system, or one that's enforced? I would say this is not censorship, at least not harmful censorship. I would say the same with the V-chip. The stuff is still there, and the hoops are minimal. They seem more like tools; less as government censorship and more as the option for parental censorship. Make sense?

Those are the easy ones. Now the hard ones. Is it censorship to allow a conglomerate with a set political agenda to seize up more and more marketshare, therefore being able to shut down any information it doesn't want people to see? If this is censorship(And it could clearly be cast as such), then the adjustment of rules to allow NewsCorp(Owner of Fox News and such) to get more and more share.. Actually increasing the percentage cap to accomodate the latest deal.. Is censorship from the Right.

We could enforce it.. But naaaaahhhh.. Let's wait...

How about the FCC's new 'Dual Carry' rule? You must broadcast on analog and digital until 2012. If that goes through, expect C-SPAN to vanish. Is it censorship to no longer be able to see the proceedings of the government from your living room?

C-SPAN, others, sue over rules.

Net Neutrality is another sticky point. Is allowing a corporation to censor web information censorship?

(Ongoing and all over the place, but usually only in opinion pages)

Febuary 2005: Bush and his GOP congress push through a bill upping the max fine from the FCC to half a million per violation of decency nonsense.

More recently, is burying the RAND Corp report on Iraq failures censorship? The Pentagon recently did just that.

Link

This doesn't even touch the way media giants treat anything that talks about torture or the other nonsense of those they politically favor.

[Darth Wong]

Indeed, the most common and insidious form of government censorship under the Bush Administration is its massive overuse of the "state secrets" principle to cover its tracks. That is the kind of censorship which causes real damage to the fabric of democracy itself, unlike stupid shit like the V-chip.

[Plekhanov]

To what extent were things like V-Chip and warning stickers on CDs the responsibility of Democrats anyway? Populist measures like that tend to get considerable cross party support, I'd be rather surprised if many Republican social conservatives voted against them anyway.