prophetic then and NOW
Rachel Carson
she asserted that one of the most basic human rights is the “right of the
citizen (of
the world) to be secure in his own home
against the intrusions of poisons applied by other people.”
through ignorance greed
negligence
“poisonous and biologically potent chemicals” fall “indiscriminately
into the hands of persons largely and wholly ignorant of their potentials for
harm.”
when protested people are “fed
little tranquillizing pills of half-truth” by governments that refuse to take responsibility
for or acknowledge evidence of damage
she challenged “moral vacuity”
asserted “The obligation to
endure gives us the right to know.”
endure
endurance
what he found prophetic in her
words is that they are applicable today regarding the potent poison
of unmediated social media the disregard
of roiling childhood illiteracy the terrible
illiteracy of society as a whole
government has not amended Section
230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996
platforms because they cannot be sued are failing to appropriately remove
harmful content such as
misinformation disinformation hate speech
1964 when Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked to describe his test for obscenity responded “I know it when I see it.”
others maintain platforms
remove constitutionally protected political speech in biased fashion and still
others advocates of consumers rights hawkeye platforms algorithms that they believe
violate or reinforce biases that unfairly disadvantage consumers
environmental POISON then POISON NOW
3PMish, 2sday,
26 3. 24
1028, day-between-2-Ts, 27 3.
24
