I know from you saying this and a few other people telling me about this but no one writes about it...or at last I haven't come across articles I can cite. I'll BOLO. I once saw a job listing for a Bahrain censor.
Very good point. And I have looked.I guess no one dares write about it even for scholarly journals. As I wade through the research maybe I'll find something--let me know if you do. Yesterday I was trying to get a picture of the "caviaring" and about 20 pages into a search found the "exhibit" of Russian censor stamps on a website kept up at a university library for Russian stamp collectors. So, I guess I need to be more persistent..of course there is so much never put up or discussed.
I believe Bill wrote about this on Taibbi's most recent comment section, but "the kids these days" seem to lack understanding that not everything is findable on Google -- it is not, in fact, a repository of all the world's knowledge, and God help us if it were -- and that brick-and-mortar, shoe-leather research in the material world is a vanishing skill.
Digressionally, I am finding the TK News comment section increasingly... unpleasant. I don't think it's Matt's fault, I don't think comment sections should be censored, and without it I would not have found your 'Stack, but I thank you for providing a "safe space" where people can politely discuss ideas in good faith.
Conversations become unpleasant when people don't know much in depth. I began working with real books and archives. Tons of the archival materials sits in boxes until someone has the $$ and the will to organize it (if ever). I've been through multiple iterations of online catalogs which sometimes link to full-text and sometimes not. But I have a university access pass so don't hit paywalls. If it's available I can get it. Increasingly I am finding that new students don't have a mental image of the world of information behind the computer. My students are older (at least 25) so I've been a little slower to realize that anyone born post-Internet doesn't have any idea. I guess it's like electricity (ask a kid where it comes from). I started doing this sub because I was seeing this same issue with a lot of commenters. Because the truth isn't out there online. You can't google much. I can get to the articles, review the primary sources and decide if I want to repackage and if anyone cares to look to the sources of the footnotes they are usually archival (assuming the researcher who went to the archives and wrote the article was working with a complete set..but of course that person picks & chooses, too). This new era of censorship isn't that different than those before, is it? I thought it too cumbersome to explain today but Marianna Choldin went to Russia and was able to study the apparatus of the censors and their annual reports which had somehow survived the Soviets. (she even looked at their pay stubs).Of course people were smuggling in books, too. The fact that people depend on the Internet and that the Internet is so easily manipulated is terrifying. Chodin's book was not available online so I ordered a used copy. I thought I would do this only a little while but I keep finding so much. Your encouragement that it's not going into the void keeps me going. Also, I just noticed if I post a comment on Matt's it shows up the link to here. There are over 200 people subscribed and it is free. (I can use some of what I'm finding in classes so that's how I justify the time). Thank you.
This caviaring seems very labor- and focus-intensive. Censorship is mindless and effortless today. Heck, algorithms are going it seamlessly, without leaving a tell-tale blotch of black ink.
In the1990s I spent time in Saudi Arabia, where the same caviering occurred. It was so severe that we referred to USA Today as USA Yesterday.
I know from you saying this and a few other people telling me about this but no one writes about it...or at last I haven't come across articles I can cite. I'll BOLO. I once saw a job listing for a Bahrain censor.
"no one writes about it...or at last I haven't come across articles I can cite."
[tongue in cheek] It seems the censorship is effective.
Very good point. And I have looked.I guess no one dares write about it even for scholarly journals. As I wade through the research maybe I'll find something--let me know if you do. Yesterday I was trying to get a picture of the "caviaring" and about 20 pages into a search found the "exhibit" of Russian censor stamps on a website kept up at a university library for Russian stamp collectors. So, I guess I need to be more persistent..of course there is so much never put up or discussed.
I believe Bill wrote about this on Taibbi's most recent comment section, but "the kids these days" seem to lack understanding that not everything is findable on Google -- it is not, in fact, a repository of all the world's knowledge, and God help us if it were -- and that brick-and-mortar, shoe-leather research in the material world is a vanishing skill.
Digressionally, I am finding the TK News comment section increasingly... unpleasant. I don't think it's Matt's fault, I don't think comment sections should be censored, and without it I would not have found your 'Stack, but I thank you for providing a "safe space" where people can politely discuss ideas in good faith.
Conversations become unpleasant when people don't know much in depth. I began working with real books and archives. Tons of the archival materials sits in boxes until someone has the $$ and the will to organize it (if ever). I've been through multiple iterations of online catalogs which sometimes link to full-text and sometimes not. But I have a university access pass so don't hit paywalls. If it's available I can get it. Increasingly I am finding that new students don't have a mental image of the world of information behind the computer. My students are older (at least 25) so I've been a little slower to realize that anyone born post-Internet doesn't have any idea. I guess it's like electricity (ask a kid where it comes from). I started doing this sub because I was seeing this same issue with a lot of commenters. Because the truth isn't out there online. You can't google much. I can get to the articles, review the primary sources and decide if I want to repackage and if anyone cares to look to the sources of the footnotes they are usually archival (assuming the researcher who went to the archives and wrote the article was working with a complete set..but of course that person picks & chooses, too). This new era of censorship isn't that different than those before, is it? I thought it too cumbersome to explain today but Marianna Choldin went to Russia and was able to study the apparatus of the censors and their annual reports which had somehow survived the Soviets. (she even looked at their pay stubs).Of course people were smuggling in books, too. The fact that people depend on the Internet and that the Internet is so easily manipulated is terrifying. Chodin's book was not available online so I ordered a used copy. I thought I would do this only a little while but I keep finding so much. Your encouragement that it's not going into the void keeps me going. Also, I just noticed if I post a comment on Matt's it shows up the link to here. There are over 200 people subscribed and it is free. (I can use some of what I'm finding in classes so that's how I justify the time). Thank you.
This caviaring seems very labor- and focus-intensive. Censorship is mindless and effortless today. Heck, algorithms are going it seamlessly, without leaving a tell-tale blotch of black ink.
They sat in offices and read every word! I think it was kind of odd that they did that rather then get rid of the whole book.
I know. There’s an odd integrity in that.