About a week or so ago, someone left a comment on another post telling me access to my site was restricted from the USS Blue Ridge. I still have no definite reason as to why, but now I think I have an idea. Looking through other sites that were linking to me, I found this awesome post from the blog “Spider’s Manifesto.” The blog’s author, “Spider Mattheson” is apparently on the Blue Ridge and while his post was a great point/counterpoint on my previous post on 9 Reasons to NOT Join the Navy, it also gave a little insight into why I was blocked.
Last year some guy named Jim posted “9 Reasons To Not Join the Navy” on his blog FEWL.NET. Jim is a sailor stationed in Yokosuka, Japan. Apprently he has a rather wide readership in Yokosuka because I caught wind of this list via e-mail on the USS Blue Ridge. This list was so popular and got forwarded so much that the attachment name became unauthorized and was taken off and replaced with a txt file explaining how I wasn’t allowed to receive this attachment.
So if there’s any truth to this, I was essentially blocked because free speech, yannow those rights things we’re always saying we support and protect, is not something that’s supported on the USS Blue Ridge. Honestly, I don’t give a shit. Whoever made the decision to block me is a frickin’ tool, and should be glad to know my readership hasn’t fallen in the slightest. Your attempt to censor information is only going to cause more people to seek it out, so thanks for the hits!
Please check out Spider’s post which takes a more positive approach to the issues I brought up in my original.
Comments 14
You know the world is a crazy place when we don’t have a right to the freedoms that we fight for.
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 6:28 am ¶Well shit man…what the hell am I gonna read while underway now? I like your version better because it’s straight foward w/o any bullshit. Spiderman’s counter was lame in some areas but well written. Spidey’s was kind of the sugar coated version of yours and if people just read his post, they may very well be misled. Same goes for yours too Jim, but I’m bias cuz you’re a cool dude who’s not afraid at speaking his mind. I think it would do Building 19 some good to read what you have to say (mainly previous posts) just to see that you’re not all about bashing the Navy.
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 2:55 pm ¶Looks like somebodys shaking up the system………Just keep it real, man - The Dude
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 5:00 pm ¶Perhaps a tenth reason should be added: the fact that you sign nearly all your rights away. I seriously have so much respect for everyone enlisted that manages to put up with the every day bullshit of the Navy. I could never do it.
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 7:24 pm ¶Sometimes the most perverse moments are when the punchline: “We defend a democracy, we don’t work for one” become all to true. Fuck it man, at least you got the bump in traffic!
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 8:58 pm ¶And on the other hand….
First let me say that if in fact your site was blocked, I don’t agree with it. It would be interesting to know the reasoning why. Spider just says that it was forwarded so much that the attachment name was removed - he doesn’t say that some tool hated it so much they blocked it. It could be the case, who knows…get somebody when they’re having a bad day, and the next thing you know, websites blocked.
And let’s make it clear that I am totally unfamiliar these days with shipboard networks.
BUT - as far as I can see, Jim, your right to free speech has not been abridged. You’re still out there posting away.
Spider Matheson has free speech, and he’s on the Blue Ridge! Good heavens.
How I interpret the situation is, either everyone on the Blue Ridge downed tools to read your blog all at once and somebody had to take action; or,
everybody rushed to check out the website all at once, totally using up all bandwidth, and somebody had to take action; or,
somebody on the Blue Ridge didn’t like the content or tone of your blog and blocked it. Beats the hell out of me.
And here’s why while I don’t agree with the action, I support the principle, and I know nobody in the universe agrees with me so whatever:
Posted 23 Jun 2008 at 11:40 pm ¶I am assuming that people are accessing whatever they are accessing on the internet via Navy-supplied computers, or via a Navy-supplied network. Correct me if I’m wrong - if there is a commercial network available shipboard.
So I think the Navy supplied the means to check out your website…and any website.
The unfortunate thing about this is that the Navy is actually beholden to the civilian taxpayer for all this equipment and use thereof. When military or DoD employees use taxpayer-supplied equipment for accessing sites that may not support the goals of the military, it makes the military look bad. When civilians who pay the bills find this stuff out, the civilians who are paying the bills tend to wonder what’s up with that (some of them do, many don’t, but the ones that do get their Congressmen all involved). That’s why, for example, it’s not legal to look at porn sites on your DoD computer while you can peruse at will at home.
I am not trying to compare your blog with a porn site.
But here is where free access for everybody on any computer/network bumps up against, ‘hey, what happened to FEWL.net?’ Most stuff is under the radar and nobody’s the wiser, but it happens - people find out what is being accessed via DoD computers. So what do we do? Allow free access to everything and tell the public to fuck off? Good luck with that. So what next? Somebody decided we could block sites….it doesn’t mean there’s no free speech (hello, Jim? Spider? mmmmppphhh? I can’t understand you with that gag in your mouth… seriously, you’re still posting) it just means that people out on ships with no alternatives have to adjust to having tools decide what they can and can’t access. Sometimes the tools get it right, sometimes they get it wrong.
The bandwidth issue isn’t an issue at all. My site is very small on image use and doesn’t even make a dent when it comes to ship bandwidth, and I know this to be fact.
If it can be justified that my site was blocked because visiting it from a DoN computer might not sit well with the taxpayers, then every non-mil or non-gov site should be blocked as well as we can never predict what will piss off the almighty taxpayers. Seeing as how I’m a tax payer myself, I don’t mind.
Blocking it may not completely prevent me from exercising my free speech rights, but it greatly impedes it. What’s the point of speaking when there’s no one who can hear you? It can also be argued that free speech isn’t supported by the ship, because they’re preventing Sailors from posting comments, which honestly are the best part about this site. It would be a shitty site if I could just sit here and bitch without no one being able to counter anything I say…as you so nicely do!
That aside, I understand where you’re coming from…and they’re still tools.
Posted 24 Jun 2008 at 1:06 am ¶Well, seriously, this is surprising to you?
Really, I’m being serious here.
Just because us enlisted pukes “Support & defend the Contitution of the United States of America”, doesn’t mean that it applies to us.
Is this surprising? Not in the least, my friend…not in the least.
Posted 24 Jun 2008 at 8:18 am ¶No, we can’t predict what will piss off the taxpayers, which is what makes the internet access policy such a sticky topic, but we can make a pretty good guess, and saying we can’t do that is naive. ‘If we can’t make it 100% perfect we might as well not do it at all’ doesn’t convince me.
Don’t make the mistake of disdaining the taxpayers. If the military drifts too far away from mainstream America we lose support, dollars, yadda yadda and it’s easy to say, who cares, because honestly, do you see any effect where you are? probably not. But it is actually a good thing to keep in mind when trying to decipher some of the bonehead policies…the almighty taxpayer is right in there making it tough. More years ago than I care to admit I was a budget analyst at the then-Naval Data Automation Command - you can’t imagine that era, PCs were just going out to the fleet. Joe Shit the Ragman didn’t come knocking on our office door to ask what were we doing with all that cool stuff? But Joe Shit the Congressman did. Nobody in the navy wants to work the money side, rightfully so, because it sucks, but it’s an eye-opener.
Have I drifted far enough off-topic?
If you really really want the Blue Ridge sailors to read & heed your website, print off the posts & mail ‘em to your buds. Let them mail responses back to you which you can then type in. Et voila! Free speech restored…only I’m still not buying that it was lost.
I don’t agree with blocking it though.
Posted 24 Jun 2008 at 1:03 pm ¶Feel free to ask a certain Network Security Divo why the site was blocked… should be amusing.
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 2:49 am ¶The overlords have spoken.
Posted 27 Jun 2008 at 8:39 pm ¶OMG It’s Rice Lover!!!! oh hai!!
Posted 28 Jun 2008 at 3:06 pm ¶It would be interesting to see the reason why they banned you.
If I was in the Navy today, I would be glad that I had any type of internet access even if it was limited because when I was in (a few years ago), if you weren’t khaki, you didn’t have internet at sea.
As for the taxpayers, well if they haven’t served, they don’t know what members of the Armed Forces have to go thru and how the smallest thing like reading a blog would make someone’s day a just a little brighter.
Posted 03 Jul 2008 at 1:53 am ¶Actually, if fewl.net has not been blackholed by the powers that be (Big Navy), the ship is technically not supposed to block the site via their proxy.
Posted 06 Jul 2008 at 11:09 pm ¶Post a Comment
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