I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (Voltaire)

Censorship in its most basic definition is the control of information and ideas within a society. It seeks the purpose of suppressing or in some cases altering information deemed by those with power to be objectionable or furthermore offensive. Rationales for its existence are varied but generally fall under the guise of protection. Not all censorship is equal, nor does all arise from government or external forces. People self-censor all the time; such restraint can be part of the price of rational dialogue of participating in a well functioning and unproblematic community (if such exists).

For a lifestyle blog about supposed frivolous stuff… this is getting deep! Occasionally my life revolves about more then fashion and entertainment…

As a media junkie I understand the need for censorship in some cases and that there is a time and place for regulation however I am ultimately all for free speech. Do I really want my little family members watching whatever they want or playing whatever violent game their heart desires… well no. Do I want to know what my government is doing majority of the time… well yes.

For the last few weeks I have heard alooottttt about WikiLeaks (you shall have to google it yourself as no point in linking it as it keeps changing) mentioned in the media. I ignorantly assumed that it had something to do with good old Wikipeadia… it does not! However Wikipeadia was basically the only route to fill my curiosity on this organisation as WikiLeaks is in the process of being digitally destroyed. Its CEO has been charged with some offensive alleged crimes and it is all smelling a little suss to me.

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organisation that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources. They post some pretty scandalous stuff relating to wars, government policy, corruption etc (I am a long way off Victoria Secret posting here). The journalists have won major awards for their work and this isn’t no backyard blog. But now the tide has turned and people in power feel that they have gone just way too far! Or perhaps they are feeling a little threatened?

*I find it very interesting that the Australian Prime Minister can’t even seem to coherently state what law WikiLeaks has broken yet she is threatening to cancel its CEO’s Australian passport today. Are you serious Julia from Altona??? Attached is an open letter to Gillard from some seriously notable people of our country. I am not as informed on the issue as I’d like to be nor do I probably have the time to get as informed as I should and for all I know there could be some major issues with WikiLeaks that personally offend me. However the journalist in me wonders how much are we really being censored (not a brain wave here) and why are the leaders of our supposed friendly countries wanting to adamantly take down this organisation… what are they hiding? What happened to free press?

Promise my next post will be more light hearted and happy!!!