From Roger L. Simon, here’s a relatively painless pledge:
From this moment on, I will not write about the Beijing Olympics unless the subject at hand is censorship and repression in China. And – unless the Chinese government changes its policies – when the Olympics do come, I will not blog about them at all. I will take the opportunity to write as often as I can about the lack of Freedom of Speech on the Chinese Internet and on the suppression of bloggers and journalists in that country.
I’ve written about the lack of freedom in China repeatedly, although probably not as often as I should.
The only thing more detestable that their censorship is the way American companies like Microsoft and Yahoo are helping to enable it. Because the latter not only should know better, but they’re in a position to exercise moral leadership, and instead they offer moral cowardice.
So, I’ll do what little I can here and there.
Right now, I feel like repairing my own ethernet cable instead of buying a new one. That way, I can help the imprisoned children of China!
Of course, there’s also Saudi censorship, which reaches out and touches Western books.
(But that’s another matter. Or is it? Who’s outsourcing what these days?)