Fourth Estate cum State Organ

Freedom of the Press continues to transition unabated to Propaganda Organ of the State. Notice any basic similarities between this still-developing Amazon story and YouTube summarily pulling videos on the complaint of public employees embarrassing themselves on the job? (No, I don't equate myself with WikiLeaks in anything but kind. WikiLeaks rocks. I'm just a pissant local activist.)

Government demands submission, private company obeys, free speech and open, accountable government lose. Should either be acceptable? Should the companies' actions be excused, should opposition be denigrated, merely because they're not (yet) government entities expressly bound by the 1st Amendment?

Yes, it's private property. Yes, they have a right. Should they expect to exercise it (quite arguably in opposition to the "public interest," as government is quick to assert when it suits its purposes) without backlash and economic consequences? Didn't we expect that outlets like YouTube were going to be the adversarial watchdog antidote to "Regime Stenographer Syndrome?" (And yes, I'm well aware this blog is hosted by a YouTube sister entity. For the moment...)

As Greenwald says:

But any attempt by political officials to start blocking Americans' access to political content on the Internet ought to provoke serious uproar and unrest. ...
If anyone is aware of some sort of campaign to boycott Amazon's web services over its capitulation to Joe Lieberman -- and there should be one -- please alert me to it so I can promote it.

Expect all those "cop abuse" -- or legislative hearing, or government-official interviews gone "badly," or... -- videos to start disappearing as this tactic becomes more widely known among government cockroaches, and press outlets don't grasp -- or aren't made to care about -- what's going on. You good with that...?

One more point I'd like to make while I'm on WikiLeaks. I keep hearing Defenders of the Regime spout on about how these leaks threaten "the United States," thereby conflating the U.S. country or the U.S. People with the U.S. government. They are not the same thing.

The U.S. People would be far less threatened if the U.S. government were held more accountable.

The state spends much time and effort persuading the public that it is not really what it is and that the consequences of its actions are positive rather than negative.
-Hans Hermann Hoppe-
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism

And all us ungrateful little brats just keep undoing their earnest effort with nettlesome elements like the truth...

UPDATE: For those having trouble keeping up (and who wouldn't), you can now get to WikiLeaks here or here or here. At least for the moment..