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	<title>Loewak: independent media and news network &#187; opinions</title>
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		<title>The &#8216;Diplomacy 2.0&#8242; program of the US government</title>
		<link>http://www.loewak.nl/2008/12/02/the-diplomacy-20-program-of-the-us-government/</link>
		<comments>http://www.loewak.nl/2008/12/02/the-diplomacy-20-program-of-the-us-government/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:40:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martijn Benders</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bbc have your say]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomacy 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[imdb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opinions]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Maybe you are one of those people who have noticed that, when one visits public debate sites, such as for example the BBC &#8216;have your say&#8217; website there seem to be an awful lot of morons around who seem to completely buy the US government propaganda. Previously I thought this was due to a bad [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maybe you are one of those people who have noticed that, when one visits public debate sites, such as for example the BBC &#8216;have your say&#8217; website there seem to be an awful lot of morons around who seem to completely buy the US government propaganda. Previously I thought this was due to a bad education system or because of the brain-shrinking qualities of fast-food, but todays news sheds a new light on these sort of comments: the US government spends 900 million dollars a year on a &#8216;Diplomacy 2.0&#8242; program. I quote:</p>
<p>&#8216;Government paid employees subscribe to websites to infuse them with &#8216;reasonable opinions&#8217;. They actively participate in public debates in order to counter &#8216;extremistic thoughts&#8217; and present a positive view on American policies.&#8217; </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.nu.nl/news/1866101/50/VS_bestrijden_extremistische_denkbeelden_online.html">www.nu.nl</a></p>
<p>900 million dollars a year, at an average wage that would be around 15.000 guys sitting at their computers typing government-positive comments all day. And of course these persons are not known as &#8216;government employees&#8217; they pretend to be average joes, intellectuals, whatever. </p>
<p>Apparently &#8216;Freedom of speech&#8217; just doesn&#8217;t suffice. We, the people, need to be guided into what sort of opinions are deemed okay by the government. You know, moderate opinions. Everything that supports us. All the rest is extremism. </p>
<p>The next question is: does this opinion Gestapo also use the IMDB site? There seem to be a massive amount of idiots there praising the worst sort of hollywood trash, while bashing independent and foreign films.</p>
<p>Diplomacy 2.0 &#8211; how incredibly Kafkaesque! </p>
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