Reading Barry's original posting, a lot of the points listed there have a disturbing resonance. It seems to me that many of them apply to an increasing number of countries or, at least, political elements withinthose countries. I live in Belgium and, in Antwerp, a disturbing 30% or so of the vote is going to the Vlaamsblock...an extremely right wing and racist part which rants about nationalism a lot. There's a similar disturbing trend in a lot of other countries and, with apologies to some who would disagree here, a lot of these characteristic seem to apply to the current US administration (I'm not talking the US people here - as others have mentioned, a somewhat slavish media is doing its best to disinform the public, as in many other countries).

Regarding the relationship to Mudcat. Mudcat is merely a microcosm reflecting meatspace in general with many different points of view. I personally totally welcome that and don't see any trend towards the suppression of differing views. It is unfortunate that "Guest" has become the focus of vitriol in many cases. Many "Guest" posting I read are highly informative and interesting and probably a very small minority are trolling. I happen to know that far for being a despotic leader mentioned above Max is, in fact, very anti-censorship on this forum (and I am not one of the "elite" or "inner circle" - if such a thing actually exists). I do personally support the actions of the JoeClones to delete messages with unpleasant or intimidating personal attacks. If this were my site I would do the same.

Peace

moo