by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Last year the Air Force decided to enter the 21st century and issued an edict saying that service members and even government civilians could access social network sites from the computers at work. Specifically, Facebook and Twitter were both seen as acceptable for use by those in charge of keeping our skies friendly.
But with every bit of sunshine comes the requisite cloud. During the last few months the Air Force has blocked the New York Times and the UK Guardian - among other reputable newspapers on the Internet - because both published the embarrassing Wikileaks material. The New York effing Times! But, not to worry, Fox will always be available - in fact we are bombarded with the right-wing crap nearly 24/7.
I took all of that in stride, because as a veteran of both the military and the government service system, I understand that control issues are present which defy logical explanation. It's doubtful that either of those newspapers fostered much in the way of readership in the military community, yet it seems sort of insane to block the nation's premier daily newspaper.
Now the Daily Kos has been blocked on Air Force computers. Does that left-leaning political blog pose some danger to our military-industrial complex - with only its handful of readers, or is this part of a larger process to ensure that military members and employees are exposed to only certain types of thought? If that is the case, maybe the paper-pushers in the Pentagon need to rethink their open attitude toward Facebook and Twitter - both seem to be currently having a significant impact on the world in which we live.
Just my thoughts, none of which will hurt the military in any way because The Ramble is also blocked. Maybe I need to start blogging on Facebook!
Citizen Journalist
Last year the Air Force decided to enter the 21st century and issued an edict saying that service members and even government civilians could access social network sites from the computers at work. Specifically, Facebook and Twitter were both seen as acceptable for use by those in charge of keeping our skies friendly.
But with every bit of sunshine comes the requisite cloud. During the last few months the Air Force has blocked the New York Times and the UK Guardian - among other reputable newspapers on the Internet - because both published the embarrassing Wikileaks material. The New York effing Times! But, not to worry, Fox will always be available - in fact we are bombarded with the right-wing crap nearly 24/7.
I took all of that in stride, because as a veteran of both the military and the government service system, I understand that control issues are present which defy logical explanation. It's doubtful that either of those newspapers fostered much in the way of readership in the military community, yet it seems sort of insane to block the nation's premier daily newspaper.
Now the Daily Kos has been blocked on Air Force computers. Does that left-leaning political blog pose some danger to our military-industrial complex - with only its handful of readers, or is this part of a larger process to ensure that military members and employees are exposed to only certain types of thought? If that is the case, maybe the paper-pushers in the Pentagon need to rethink their open attitude toward Facebook and Twitter - both seem to be currently having a significant impact on the world in which we live.
Just my thoughts, none of which will hurt the military in any way because The Ramble is also blocked. Maybe I need to start blogging on Facebook!
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