Dina Giolitto writes:

Bingo. You said it, brother. Blame solves nothing. Positive solutions are the magic words. We can’t change what already happened. But we CAN change what’s to come.

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Lance Winslow writes:

First before I launch into a tirade, let me say I agree with you on this particular issue. However, I think you are on a slippery slope, as you are discussing censorship. EzineArticles=Censorship might be the battle cry of your critics. Although this does not affect me personally, by simply making this statement you may find articles more carefully toned, instead of truth being told. If you sweep your problems under the carpet, you will have bacteria in your house.

Most would applaud your move to make more rules. Yet, in doing so you are risking your own belief system. Who shall draw the line? YOU? I see, what qualifications do you have for sitting on the High Court? Do you mind if we put you on the stand and ask your belief system in every possible human endeavor and eventuality of the written word.

Are you saying that no one is to blame for anything? Are you proposing that we continue to relieve the citizens, government or companies of any blame for any action? If so, you will be promoting a very scary future, yet one, which is coming. Are you to saying you are on-board with new paradigm of the right to be irresponsible? Don’t those who maybe in the know have rights to voice their opinions? Or place blame? Often blame is appropriate. Are you simply looking for a buyer of your company and wish to make sure that your website has all the proper tones which would not offend anyone, so you can get a high dollar? Isn’t that what your book seems to indicate you advise. Controversy actually sells news, in case you did not know? I know you often do not post the comments on this Blog people send in. I have had several of my posts here conveniently find themselves lost in the fold.

Whereas, I actually agree with your comments and am appalled by some of the articles I read occasionally. And I too agree with Dina’s points here. At the same time I warn of a slippery slope one, which goes against what we stand for in this country. Who is to choose? You? How can we trust a man, you are human. What say you, I am prepared for a complete full-on assault in verbal debate, without prejudice.

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Dina writes:

Yeah, but… it’s HIS website. He pays the rent for the server space. It’s HIS house. This is not a government-run effort, this is a privately-owned business. If a private organization doesn’t feel that an article doesn’t represent what THEY stand for, then they don’t have to print it. Corporations do it all the time. It’s freedom of choice. This is not a government organization. Private ownership. Dig it.

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Chris Knight writes:

Lance,

We censor daily.

If we didn’t, this site would turn into garbage within a week.

Mostly, we censor articles that look more like sales pitches than informative or educational articles.

Hey, I love what controversy can do for ad revenue, page views, etc… but it’s not all upside.

The fact is, we use ad revenue to help pay our server bills and labor expenses and therefore we have a responsibility to advertisers. If an advertiser complains, we have a problem.

Sorry if this was not the answer you were hoping for. I’m sure you understand our desire to continue this project for the greater benefit to all involved at the risk of excluding a few.

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Edward Weiss writes:

I can’t believe I’m actually agreeing with Lance. By the way, your Google advertisers take a chance when they pay for an online ad. They don’t know whose page their ad will show up on.

As for separatism = bad, I would have to say that censorship = bad too if articles of varying opinions are cut because of one reason or another. Of course there should be guidelines for authors about what they can or can not post (curse words, etc.) but doesn’t everyone’s voice deserve to be heard?

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Lance Winslow writes:

Thanks Edward, I often agree with your comments although have not said as much.

I would like to say, yes the site is privately owned indeed and therefore the owner can unilaterally make policy and generally does so with much precision, which has made it a category killer and number one Article website on the Planet. I appreciate his trust in our leadership, we share that view. We share a thought that such articles are ridiculous and not right.

Additionally I understand the issues of garbage articles and the need to keep the site clean. And I know private businesses have a choice. But if one stands on high ground of what is right, then all voices should be heard, whether we like it or not. If you stand tall, you must never slide into hypocrisy. One who speaks of such high morals, must also stand tall with regards to freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Censorship often starts by claiming it is best for the whole. Plato admitted some spontaneous selective prosecution of his perfect republic would be needed. Hitler used it to crush critics and worse, remove them completely from their life experience. Throughout history voices have been squashed to the detriment of the whole or civilization in the name of the majority’s best interests.

“Sometimes the voice of the few in the face of many is the best for all concerned.” Lance 05′

Realize I totally agree with Chris’ thoughts on this particular point with regards to “race and rescue.” If I were flying a helicopter and saw a black grandma waving and on another roof a white 20’s something, you bet the black lady would get my rescue basket. I would hope that would be the same for all rescuers, I trust it would thru common decency and good decision-making. I agree with Chris and the point of contention, yet, also believe if someone says otherwise lets hear their views, challenge them, perhaps they might make us aware of some real issues we have in our nation.

Blaming My President for a race issue during Hurricane Katrina is silly even if someone made such a choice of rescuing whites over blacks, certainly the President would not make such a choice or even condone it. As a matter of fact he made a surprise visit to MLK’s gravesite on a special day, without notice to PR media. Mrs. Bush made it clear he does not think like that about Black Americans, they were offended, I cannot blame them, I’d be offended also. But if someone has something to say, well let’s hear it. If it is wrong, lets debate it, challenge their claims, but let’s hear it. If it is really wrong, but not threatening it will bring on comments and articles on the other side. I know I have written Katrina articles mentioning the wrongful challenges of the Race Card in the middle of the rescue and clean-up efforts.

So again I agree with Chris’s comments and thoughts on the issue. I am only concerned with Freedom of the Press and Speech. We have come a long way in our country and fought like hell to keep it. Let’s stand tall and really think on this. It is a serious issue, it represents all we are and all we have built. We should agree to limit censorship on controversial political issues. Articles parading as information, containing only advertising trickery is totally something else, I cannot imagine the 100 plus articles you get a day here which are clearly crossing the line. Those are my thoughts. Although hard biting comments, I do love EzineArticles.com and I would give the same advice to my own family if asked, because I love them too, as much as I love my country and those ancestors, which brought us all here. We must all think on this and never let such things slip from our fiber.

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Chris Knight writes:

Lance,

Wanted to give you an example of some of the grey areas that our editors have to deal with when enforcing our no racial slurs policy.

Read and reflect on this article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Katrina—Five-Days-of-Abandonment&id=70267

The last sentence:

“The blood of Africa shall remain forever stained upon the racist hand of this country….. on all five fingers….. from five damn centuries….. embodied in five days of abandonment”

Obviously, the article was written by a very angry author who feels betrayed by her country… I feel for her pain, but know that we are no longer a racist country and it’s unfair for her to spill her hatred towards everyone in the USA for her local feelings of abandonment.

Did she cross the line with her article?

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Edward Weiss writes:

Hi Chris. I just read the article you referred to and found it to be passionate, well written, and an excellent example of allowing authors to express varying viewpoints.

I didn’t find it “rascist” as much as a rant about racism in this country – which I do believe exists in large quantities.

The category of the article is News/Society which I find appropriate and if I were the editor deciding to accept or reject this article, it would have gone into the OK basket.

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Lance Winslow writes:

I am saddened to find our citizens feel like this, it upsets me. Malcolm X or a modern day MLK could have well written it; certain paragraphs could easily have referred to Chinese Immigrants crawling thru tunnels to set dynamite charges to build the railroad, which were often set off before they could get out or Irish Americans during the Industrial Revolution; or the exploited of other countries. I understand the not wanting to post that article as it appears to incite anger, rebellion and borderlines on revolution, which is all the part of the human endeavor in its sound and fury of many a past and present period. Perhaps this does need to be said. It is better to not silence such feelings and allow them to stew, but rather allow the emotion to flow to help us better understand.

As we see International Terrorists attempt to recruit Americans in our country to join their hatred, we now know how one could fall to their offer. Perhaps if we understood these feelings and issues we might as well prevent the recruiting of Americans to assist in joining those Radical Islamic Jihad’ist Murderers. You know this individual Lisa Torrance could stand for someone living in Torrance, CA, which is near a US Major port and an area known to have Islamic Radicals living in it, the area is also a known area for MS-13 Gangs. Not that Lisa is anything of the sort, this person appears to be a writer and allows expression thru that form instead of violence, but what if we fail to listen, this individual finds no way out, nothing to lose, economically enslaved, no voice and joins up with those who hate and want to kill, plan and attack our fellow citizens? Now one might say that such words incite others to sign up against us all. But if we fail to listen, and one day someone it could all, explode. Then TV announcers would then say; ‚¬“Oh how could this happen?‚¬ The answer would be we swept the truth under the carpet and did not listen, we should have known.

I personally do not approve of that article, but am grateful to see its perspective and it shows; ‚¬“Houston we have a problem‚¬ and they were moved here from New Orleans and boy are they pissed! Not all of them, but enough to make us at least listen.

There were no threats in this article, just a promise to not forget the treatment, nor should we next time. America self-segregates and it is a shame. I wish we did not do that. But we all do, all of us. We should be thinking on this, if we are all one, we ought to start acting like it and listen to all sides. Partitioning away the truth will only cause it to rise again and bite you in the rear. Thank you for thinking everyone. And Lisa, although I disagree with your article; I do respect your opinion, passion and want you to know I feel your pain and value your perspective. America is with you, please know that.

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EminemsRevenge writes:

I think that once you start imposing censorship, you are thusly LIMITING understanding.

As a Black person, YOU have in effect just told me to shut the hell up!!! I wonder if George Orwell ever imagined that his “All animals are created equal, but some more equal than others” would someday become an Ameican mantra?

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Dina writes:

Hi Lisa,

I am Italian and my ancestors were immigrants who were treated unfairly, discriminated against, given crappy jobs and had to work extra hard to prove themselves in this society just like the Africans, the Chinese, the Irish, the Jews, the Polish, the Hispanics, the Indians, and everybody else who came to America. White people were slaves too you know. There were Irish and Scottish slaves, but you don’t hear about it because they don’t complain quite so much.

I don’t feel any pain that my ancestors might have felt, because I am not them. They are gone.

We are a new generation, and nobody in THIS generation is to blame for what people did to each other in past generations.

If the government issues a Category 5 Hurricane Emergency Evacuation, and people don’t heed that warning, then they wrongly cry racism when the president doesn’t get there to bail them out as fast as they would like.

You are an American and you are free to pursue your dreams in this country… and your race even works in your favor, because if you want to move yourself up, Affirmative Action gives you that chance.

There are people in this world who once were poor and now they’re filthy rich. How do you think they did that?? Not by complaining and finger-pointing– because they knew there was no TIME for such things. The richest people in this world are in control of themselves and take action on their own behalf. NOBODY is holding you back, girl. If you want to become a celebrity, you can do that. If you write poems or paint beautiful pictures, or sing like a goddess, or love to work with children or whatever… you can do any of those things. Nobody is stopping you. Look at the opportunities on this website alone. You are on here writing about your feelings on the Blog, and 9,000+ members can read what YOU WROTE. They can read it because Chris Knight put it up there for everyone to see. So, maybe next time you can show all 9,000+ something wonderful about you and what you do? How about it – this is freedom, FEEL IT. It’s yours. You have an internet connection, and you have TALENT — you can do anything with it. You can build a business and MAKE MONEY. You can do what you LOVE. After all, I think that’s what the real focus of this site is supposed to be. Show us your power and your beauty. The WORLD is watching.

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Edward Weiss writes:

Just wondering how fast the response would have been if Laura and her daughters were trapped at the New Orleans convention center.

I bet Airforce One would have swooped in very quickly – say 30 minutes or so.

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mimi writes:

i agree, separatism IS evil
and how evil is bush ‘forgeting’ to aid Lousiana victims

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Josh T writes:

What are you talking about?

The federal government gave Louisiana $41.4 billion which is about five times what it spent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In addition, in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes alone, state officials estimate that 60,000 households will be eligible for $26,200 each from FEMA, the maximum under a program that helps disaster victims pay for home repairs and replace basic necessities such as refrigerators and clothing that were lost in the storm.

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