Thursday, May 03, 2007

Military Censorship

The Army is effectively shutting down Army blogs. This is stupid. Sgt Mom says something like: "What did you expect? It is all about Power and Control." (see how easy it is to get a link from me? LOL)

We need more information from the Army, not less. So what do they do? Put a big kink in the hose.

I think this has gone beyond stupid and is now firmly into insane territory.

My guess is that this is a move to cover for the inarticulate Commander in Chief. If he can't adequately express himself no one can. Especially, he doesn't want to be upstaged by some 2nd Lt or a private even. However, that is strictly a guess.

Here is what I think should be done:

It seems to me that the way to handle this is blog teams. Each member of the team is assigned to censor all the others with a person responsible in each team. Self regulation.

Then you have a blog central to pass info and answer questions and handle opsec regulation.

I miss Armorgeddon.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values and at The Astute Bloggers

3 comments:

The Gentle Cricket said...

I think that this will have the opposite effect as hoped for. The few soldiers who will speak poorly of the situation will probably do so under the radar, and the majority--who would otherwise express their support--will be silenced.

Mike H. said...

Military censorship is a good thing. When individuals in the military want to engage in cowardice they amplify their concerns and look for backup. This could have the effect of mutiny which can not be allowed under any circumstances. For one to argue that freedom of speech under those conditions should be allowed, is not worried about the troops but in fact arguing for a breakdown in discipline. The military is not a democracy and had better not ever be. Free men can not be ordered to die and without those men who voluntarily subjugate themselves to indentured servitude those free men could not live. The information that you seek is not the purview of the military but of an ethical media.

M. Simon said...

Mike,

All very well and good.

Except - we are in an information war as well as a shooting war.

Sometimes you have to take risks for tactical and strategic gains. The risks do not always pay off.

War is not risk free.

The soldiers on the ground are the most authorative with respect to conditions on the ground. That is a strategic advantage even if it has tactical and strategic risks.