Army to Bloggers: We Won't Bust You. Promise.
Do you know how many rights that civilians take for granted that members of the military must renounce while they are in the service of their country? It's worth knowing if you're young enough to be thinking about the military as a career, or aid to your education. There are similar restrictions in most countries, including Canada.
Ask any relative who served in wartime ... their letters were all censored. "Loose Lips Sink Ships" is a phrase even I use, and I wasn't born until The Beatles were already a world-wide phenomena, and Vietnam was stirring the conscience of North Americans.
And seeing as how our neighbour to the south (the U.S.A. of course) has decided to be in a constant state of "war" with ubiquitous enemies around the world, these regulations should come as no surprise. What is surprising is that the U.S. Military is backing off from its own very well established and practical policies about censoring the information that individuals in the service are allowed to divulge to anyone else. In this case freedom of speech could, has, and will cost lives. Living is what we are here for, and as Nietzsche said, any philosophy (or principle) that destroys life destroys itself, and must be abandoned.
Now consider this from the same government that feels it is OK to tap private citizens telephones (a right of privacy for which people have a reasonable expectation) - and would love to get your mail and e-mail too if it could - while seeming to be handing back to the military a right for which historically they had no expectation. Sensible? Not to me.
More tomorrow on bloggers rights.
J.A.I.
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