1. Blogging for democracy by John W. Maynor North Belgian extreme right discourses Radical pluralism and free speech in online public spaces by Bart Cammaerts Chen-ting Chen, Shine Lyui
2. Bart Cammaerts Master’s degree in Political Science; PhD in Social Science. Now a senior lecturer in the Media and Communications Department of the London of Economics and Political Science. (http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/whosWho/AcademicStaff/bartcammaerts.aspx)
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4. Works in areas of contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought
5. Specialized in civic republican theory( http://www.mtsu.edu/politicalscience/faculty/jm.shtml )
6. Public Sphere The concept wascreated by Jurgen Habermas who is a German sociologist and philosopher. An arena for citizen to freely discuss and deliberate about political/social issues. People in public sphere are equal and rational.
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8. A new medium to create and enhance political discourse.
12. Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment in the US. European countries, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have stringent laws about hate speech.
13. Cyberbalkanization The isolation of likeminded individuals Fragmentation and polarization Diverse opinions should be encouraged
14. Public Reason and Civility Acceptable arguments only Civility a requirement CoC and CommResp help to achieve the ideal The question remains whether free speech is enhanced by civility
15. Discussion: Hate speech is protected by the First Amendment in the U.S. and limited in many European countries such as Belgium
18. Stormfront White Pride World Wide Demonstration of a strong racist community that exists worldwide. Created by Don Black, a former member of American Nazi Party and a Grand Wizard in KKK.
19. Danish Cartoons Danish cartoons were published by Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper. The newspaper was investigated and did not violate the law. (http://atheistkiwi.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/danish-cartoon-of-mohammad-reprinted/)
20. Cammaerts’ Conclusions It is difficult to define what hate speech is. Censorship tends to backfire on democracy. We might be able to remove hate speech from the public sphere by censorships and technology. However, the root of hate ideology still exists.
21. Maynor’s Conclusions Blogging as a form of deliberative democracy, stresses conversation between participants in blogosphere. Blogosphere is free, fair and open when deemed supplemental Online discussion as a means to combat the 3Vs Blogging with the help of CoC and suchlike has the potential to flourish
22. Our Conclusions Law is only able to regulate morality to the least extent. Almost impossible to incorporate morality into law due to its subjectivity. Moral issues be addressed through education. Religion as a supplement.(Faith and Order: The Reconcilation of Law and Religion by Harold J. Berman) Promote what is agreed upon universally. (Mindy)
23. References Cammaerts, B.. (2009). Radical Pluralism and Free Speech in Online Public Spaces. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 12:6, 555-575. Maynor, J. B.. (2009). Blogging for Democracy: Deliberation, Autonomy, and Reasonableness in the Blogosphere. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 12:3, 443-468.
