Compare and Contrast

Last week was a rough week for bloggers in this cold, cruel world, in some places moreso than others.

CNET reports:

The Chinese government has abruptly shut down dozens of blogs in its latest attempt to control the growing tide of social networking, according to the Associated Press.

The crackdown, which apparently surfaced Wednesday, has affected both blogs and shorter microblogs, which have become a popular method to spread the word and rally support about sensitive issues there. The move has led to many blogs disappearing from Sohu, home to popular microblogs by outspoken writers and lawyers, said the AP....

...at least 61 blogs ... are now blocked.

In these United States of Gitmo, the blog body-count was slightly higher. The Feds leaned on hoster Burst.net to pull the plug on blogging platform Blogetery.com because one of its blogs had "links to al-Qaeda materials," specifically: "messages from Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the terrorist organization, as well as bomb-making tips" [CNET] Evidently the content was related to the recently hyped to death by US corporate media al-Qaeda webzine, Inspire.

70,000+ blogs bit the dust. The non-al-Qaeda-related blogs were -- like innocent civilians at at Predator drone attack -- simply collateral damage.

John Young, a true information warrior for decades, has the Inspire material available for perusal on his web site for days. Good thing he's not a blogger!