[Dean's World] Scott Kirwin: Giving Terrorists Ideas

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Posted by Scott Kirwin:
Giving Terrorists Ideas
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1186938068.shtml


   Fox News is having a [1]hissy-fit over Steven Levitt's soliciting
   terror attack ideas from the readers of his New York Times' sponsored
   blog. Today when talking head on Fox News a "blogger" - as if this was
   the worst epithet she could imagine one could hurl at a journalist.

   Levitt is more than a "blogger" or a journalist - he's the author of
   Freakonomics and an economics professor at the University of Chicago.
   I happen to own the book, and found it sandwiched on my bookshelf by
   Bill Gertz's Treachery and PJ O'Rourke's On the Wealth of Nations. I
   purchased it from American Compass - a bookclub for conservatives (yes
   contrary to what many on the Left claim, some of us do read.) It's a
   good read, and rather conservative in its economic arguments.

   Now I like Fox News, but it does have a tendency to get its collective
   panties in a twist over certain things - especially anything related
   to the Internet and bloggers. In it's eyes, one is trying to abduct
   your children and the other is spewing lies about the military and
   Bill O'Reilly. You would think they've never read anything to the
   right of Daily Kos. It's hard for me to separate Fox News's bias from
   the justifiable concerns raised by Levitt's actions.

   However, after thinking about it I have to conclude that Levitt's post
   is not a big deal. Jihadists in caves are not lacking for ideas to
   attack us. It's not like they need help from University of Chicago
   professors or those who read their blogs. Native psychopaths view
   themselves as geniuses: they don't need ideas from intellectuals. They
   have their own - or get their ideas from their dogs, their god, or the
   voices in their heads.

   What would be interesting is if I was wrong and Levitt's site was used
   by someone to conduct an attack. Proof of that could theoretically
   form the basis for a class action lawsuit against Levitt and the New
   York Times by the victims of the attack. Now I'm not an attorney so I
   can't say that plaintiffs would win such a case, but I'm not sure they
   would have to in order to score a victory in the court of "public
   opinion."

   The New York Times isn't afraid of the US military or the Bush
   administration. However I'd bet their legal department is laying awake
   at night wondering if the New York Times has finally gone too far this
   time.

References

   1. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292804,00.html