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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Exhibit Looks At Comic Book Censorship

Posted: November 2, 2012 at 12:44 pm

Posted: Nov. 1, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

Looking back over the past several decades, it's amazing how often collections of words and pictures have rubbed so many people the wrong way.

And just what happened when those collections of words and pictures - you know them as comic books - angered the powers that be can be seen in "Seduction of the Innocent," an exhibition that runs through Nov. 28 at Alternate Reality Comics, 4110 S. Maryland Parkway.

The exhibition is part of the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, which is, in turn, part of the Vegas Valley Book Festival. Curated by Las Vegas writer/illustrator Pj Perez, the exhibition features reproductions of rare comic book covers, photos and artwork.

That comics would even be thought of as worthy of censoring might surprise readers who aren't followers of the art form. When a previous iteration of the exhibition was mounted a year ago at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Marjorie Barrick Museum, some viewers "were sort of ignorant of" the 80-year history of comic books in America, Perez said.

Last year's showing "served its purpose so well, we decided to bring it back so more people would be exposed to this," he said.

Perez describes the exhibition as a "visual timeline" of key events in the history of comic book censorship since the 1930s. It was then, according to Perez, that comic strips created for newspaper syndication began to be collected into the first true comic books.

Back then, criticism and censorship of comic books were likely to revolve around issues such as vulgar street language, disrespect for authority and stereotypical depictions of ethnic cultures, he said.

By the '40s, the now wildly successful entertainment medium started to become the focus of a backlash that would see comic books blamed for such social problems as juvenile delinquency.

"Obviously, we spend a good amount of time on the mid-'50s," Perez said. "The inspiration for the show's title is, of course, the Fredric Wertham book 'Seduction of the Innocent.' "

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Exhibit Looks At Comic Book Censorship

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Forget SOPA, Russia Activates Web Censorship Blacklist Law

Posted: at 12:44 pm

Wednesday, the Russian parliament unanimously adopted a controversial bill that would give them a tremendous amount of control over the Internet. Not so ironically, Wednesday was also October 31stHalloweenthe day of the year that the horrors, specters, and ghouls walk the land (in costume) and in this fashion, Russia managed to costume up SOPA and bring it to their people.

A multitude of open-interest websites banded together to warn against this bill and its potential for becoming a tool of censorshipamid those sites included Yandex, LiveJournal, Mail.ru, and the Russian-language Wikipedia.

Not just echoes of censorshipactual blatant secret censorship

According to the BBC, the bill would create an Internet blacklist, which would not be made public (meaning that the Russian public wouldnt even know what was being banned or why.)

If the websites themselves cannot be shut down, internet service providers (ISPs) and web hosting companies can be forced to block access to the offending material.

The list of banned website will be managed by Roskomnadzor (Russias Federal Service for Supervision in Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Communications). It is meant to be updated daily, but its contents are not available to the general public.

Of course, this has drawn the attention of critics who dont like the idea of web censorship, and are even less enthusiastic about the bills portion that keeps the lists hidden from the public. Not only have numerous websites come out against it, but so have human rights organizations who see the obvious gateway to abuse.

Its less about thinking of the children and more about shaming critics

As The Guardian UK explains, the bill was pushed through on the back of one of the modern day political hot-button issues that are so often used to divest people of safety and privacy: the protection of children. Much like how terrorism is used to bypass thoughtful and rational discourse on cybersecurity bills. To this extent the phrase think of the children, is often used to disparage politicians forwarding controversial or flawed bills to control speech. Apparently, Russia is no stranger to this effect.

The need to fight child pornography and illegal content are as important for civil society as the support of constitutional principles like freedom of speech and access [to] information, Yelena Kolmanovskaya, the chief editor of Yandex, wrote in a statement posted on the website on Wednesday. However, she added: The proposed methods provide a means for possible abuse and raise numerous questions from the side of users and representatives of internet companies.

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Jesse Ventura ~ End The 2 Party Dictatorship – Video

Posted: at 12:43 pm

Jesse Ventura ~ End The 2 Party Dictatorship
Please rate and subscribe!!! Ron Paul #39;Constitutionally Correct #39; 2012. http://www.ronpaulcc2012.com **Volumediscounts are also available. Please contact us via email for pricing orders@ronpaulcc2012.com** Video credit: thealexjoneschannel Harry Reid has promised that there will not be a vote in the Senate for #39;Audit the Fed #39;, despite his past support for an audit in 1995. Contact Harry Reid now, and tell him to AUDIT THE FED: 202-224-3542. In addition call your senators and tell them to vote to Audit The Fed! FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a #39;fair use #39; of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 USC section 107 of the US Copyright Law.From:RonPaulCC2012Views:54 9ratingsTime:56:25More inNews Politics

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Jesse Ventura ~ End The 2 Party Dictatorship - Video