“French President Nicholas Sarkozy means well. In the wake of horrific antisemitic murders reportedly pulled off by a Qaida-trained killer, Sarkozy is proposing to lock up frequent visitors to pro-terrorist websites. However understandable, the move would cripple open source attempts at understanding terrorism trends without stopping terrorists. “Anyone who regularly consults internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison,” Sarkozy argued to a political rally in France on Thursday. “What is possible for pedophiles should be possible for trainee terrorists and their supporters, too.” But terror porn doesn’t work like kiddie porn. For one thing, visitors to jihadist websites like the al-Shmukh forum aren’t just terrorist wannabees. They’re also lurking terrorism researchers or, um, journalists like us. And there’s law enforcement and intelligence officers monitoring them to discern the next moves of potentially dangerous people. ………….”

No doubt Sarko is electioneering. He is in a tough race against the socialist Francois Hollande, and he always veers to the right when in trouble, just like any good Republican candidate in the USA. Going to a Jihadist website doesn’t make one a Jihadist or an enabler, just like going to white supremacist websites doesn’t make one a white supremacist. There is, besides the legitimate research and information value, the entertainment value in both these types of sites.
Europeans have been doing this ‘censorship’ more often lately. They have blocked and banned television networks and now websites. Yet they feign outrage when one of our dictators or despots does the very same thing, especially if that dictator or despot is not one of their allies. This is what an American would call “sanctimonious European bullshit”. Yet there is plenty of it on this side o the Atlantic as well (you know that if you follow the political campaigns this year).
Cheers
mhg


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