Totalitarianism is the new black

When told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three American high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees.

Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

“These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous,” said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. “Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation’s future.”

The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says. When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did…

It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights. Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It’s not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can’t…

-- Courtesy of Warren Ellis

Commentary:Well, what can I say? If you really want control over people, then you have to make them give it to you willing. No, not give - offer. Control is when people offer you their freedom. [Kinda like Russian and their communist nostalgia]

... and it seems that the unending 'war on terror' (itself a euphemism for a state of perpetual war) is causing just that to happen. I don't think its a conspiracy either. As I quoted from Steve Jobs (!) earlier... conspiracy is optimistic. The sad reality is that people are only getting what they want.

"Please take my freedom! No, seriously, I don't need it! Take it. Here, have my money too".