If there is a religion in the modern world, it is the fanatic belief in democratic self-governance. From a philosophical perspective, the legitimacy of democratic self-government requires the notion of a public forum - a democratic corpus, a public sphere formed by citizens, if you will - to frame, debate and discuss political issues and events, free from "government … [Read more...] about Case Study on Democratic Self-Governance: NSA Oversight, a Straight Game of Poker?
freedom of speech
Freedom of Speech: Case Study on That Medieval, Backward, Senseless French Law Against Insulting the French President
China is often regarded as a nation without Freedom of Speech - or at least a nation that disrespects Freedom of Speech, or a nation with serious infractions of Freedom of Speech. I have often argued that such disparaging conclusions rarely turn out to based on Freedom itself, but a disrespect of China's social, historical, and political contexts and current interests. I will … [Read more...] about Freedom of Speech: Case Study on That Medieval, Backward, Senseless French Law Against Insulting the French President
Should China Consider Giving Snowden Asylum?
As Snowden considers asylum offers from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, and perhaps mulls a second application to Russia (Putin had earlier said if Snowden wanted to apply asylum there, he'd have to stop releasing NSA leaks), should China Consider Giving Snowden Asylum? By the answers, I am hoping to gauge people's attitude toward Snowden. For me, I am neutral. I … [Read more...] about Should China Consider Giving Snowden Asylum?
Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
A lot has been discussed on this blog recently with regards to censorship, most of the discourse so far have revolved around the justice and standards of censorship. I want to take a different but related direction, and discuss yet another myth propagated by the democracy/freedom advocates - the notion that "free" societies are always more innovative than their "non-free" … [Read more...] about Rethinking the Freedom-Innovation Nexus
The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi
Whenever a for-profit - or even non-profit - organization professes to do good, to be a society's guardian - as Google has - I feel queasy. It's not that I think Google (or more generally corporations, NGOs, charities, even churches) is inherently evil. It's just that no non-government entity owes society at large a fiduciary duty per se, as governments do. Take as a case … [Read more...] about The Euphemism of Freedom – Case Study on Google in the Aftermath of Benghazi