Saturday, December 11, 2010

US hypocrisy in freedom of expression

From Sydney Morning Herald Mike Carlton dripped with sarcasm at the hypocrisy of the US government in the following:

********


Lost in the global uproar over Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks horror, there was some good news from Washington. The US will host World Press Freedom Day in May, an exciting event with the catchy slogan "New Frontiers, New Barriers''.

Tuesday's announcement from the State Department's chief huckster, one P.J. Crowley, scaled the heights of irony. It deserves quoting. "The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts," he said.

"New media has [sic] empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals' right to freedom of expression.

"At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age."

Fabulous. Empowered citizens! The free flow of information! The trumpeting of these lofty ideals must come as a huge relief to Our Julian and his legions of supporters who fear - with reason - that the US wants him dead for those very sins.

********

4 comments:

  1. Whenever Americans kill someone, it is always "in the name of freedom, democracy and human rights", but whenever someone kills Americans, it is condemned as an act of terrorism and barbarism......wakakakakakaaa

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for that, I wasn't aware that they were hosting this day!! So it's nice to see even more of the hypocrisy coming through. I'm very annoyed about this too and I've just written a blog post about it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The USA is always clamouring for the right to free speech in the world. So why is it trying its damnest to silence wikileaks and its founder? Remember how the Americans tried to "liberate" the Vietnamese by napalming them?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did PM Netanyahu get a Lethal Dose of DU?

    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/12/11/did-pm-netanyahu-get-a-lethal-dose-of-du/

    WOW!

    ReplyDelete