Define *Free Speech* if you can...

POSTED BY: pizmobeach
UPDATED: Friday, February 20, 2026 19:33
VIEWED: 5360
PAGE 4 of 7

Nobody has addressed the problem of access. Free speech is great, but if you can't get your voice heaqrd its meaningless. Whereas we're bombarded every blinkin' day about how buying this or that product will make us happy, glamorous and sexy. (WHich BTW immediately presupposes that those are all worthwile goals in and of themselves)

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Advertising bombardment doesn't work anymore, companies have been forced to find new, unobtrusive advertising styles using the internet.

Pretty soon, it won't be a competition with commercials, but competition between many voices that will make it difficult for anyone to be heard.

You could always try hacking into analog television airways, of course your audience is still likely to be tiny and you might receive some undue interest from the military and police who are now using that technology for communication.

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N/M

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Originally posted by SignyM:
Nobody has addressed the problem of access. Free speech is great, but if you can't get your voice heard its meaningless. Whereas we're bombarded every blinkin' day about how buying this or that product will make us happy, glamorous and sexy. (WHich BTW immediately presupposes that those are all worthwile goals in and of themselves)

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Nowadays, with the Interwebs, everyone has a voice, but being heard is still largely about money. Don't know how you change that other than banding together into a group, adding more voices. Maybe you need a more obtainable standard for "being heard."

"Whereas we're bombarded every blinkin' day about how buying this or that product will make us happy, glamorous and sexy."

There's also Freedom From Speech. The Mute Button is one of the great inventions of our time.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.com

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There's also Freedom From Speech. The Mute Button is one of the great inventions of our time.

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As are the DVR and the iPod. No radio, no commercials on TV. :)

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You can also refuse to look at billboards, buy magazines or newspapers, or screen out the popups?

Why don't you just admit we're saturated with advert? Everything is about advert. Which shows get picked for TV and which get cancelled (ouch), the so-called "news" (gotta keep that audience tuned for yet another chance to sell! sell! sell!!), which search engines are gonna make it and which aren't, and it has nothing to do with the content itself and everything to do with advertising dollars. Because its all geared to that demographic which spends thoughtlessly (males age 19-45). So everything we see... or don't see... is about avert... gotta be flashy and quick, have happy endings (or gory ones, look at the crap that Wulf comes up with), and mostly it has to make you NOT THINK. Because thinking is anathema to advert, dontcha know.

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You can also refuse to look at billboards, buy magazines or newspapers, or screen out the popups?

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Not sure I can tune out billboards, but I try not to pay much attention to them. I *can* refuse to buy magazines or newspapers, and I definitely block popups. :)

But I get your point. We are bombarded, 24/7. That's why I make an effort to block what I can.

Mike

Let the wild rumpus start!

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