Yeah, I know I am against political posts on RPG blogs, but this post is neither right or left, republican or democrat, conservative or liberal - this is just a wee post about a disturbing trend.
Western society as a whole, and our governments in general, have been up in arms when Arab countries were shutting down cell phone service and access to social media sites during "The Arab Spring". Their whole line was "that is not how democracies would do things".
The recent shutting down of cellular service at certain BART stations in the San Francisco area due to protests at said stations was the same thing. Surprising for such a liberal, forward thinking city. Britain has been talking about controlling social media during future social unrest.
Governments fear social media. Probably for good reason. The thing is, once you give up a right, you rarely get it back.
You would think that with 15 years in law enforcement I would embrace tools that have the potential to make my job easier, but everyone I've spoken to in my profession about this incident is very disturbed by it. Thankfully, there wasn't a repeat of the shutdown during the most recent BART protests. Still, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I'll get back to gaming with my next post. I promise ;)
#AtoZChallenge2024: N is for Appendix N
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[image: Appendix N]
The original 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide for Advanced Dungeons &
Dragons is a treasure trove of material for running an AD&D game...
6 hours ago
I don't usually tweet or text nor do I ride the BART (at least not when I am not in Cali), but it rubs me the wrong way, too. If Thomas Paine were alive today, I'm sure he'd be all over the social media.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that the government would utilize social media rather than stymieing it because of lack of control. Sadly the temptation of ease if always pressuring our decisions as individuals and as a society. Easier to pull plug on technology rather than utilizing it better than the perceived opposition.
ReplyDeleteWell, on the plus side, our government is so incompetent that they'll never be able to keep a lid on Twitter even if there are more riots.
ReplyDelete@kelvingreen - you owe me a tea and a new keyboard ;)
ReplyDelete