Areopagitica

NY Sun ^ | March 20, 2013 | Masthead Editorial

[neverdem]

Lords and Commons of England, consider what Nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governours: a Nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, suttle and sinewy to discours, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to.

* * *

Those words were penned by John Milton in 1644, when he wrote, in “Areopagitica,” his plea for unlicensed printing. Where is the Mighty Milton now that England’s monarch, Elizabeth II, is getting set to establish by royal charter a new body, cooked up in the mother of parliaments, to regulate the press? The newspapers are issuing feeble protests, and some, such as the Financial Times, are announcing they’re prepared to go along with the scam. The idea that Britain is not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to, well, Milton’s celebrated sentiment seems to be a 17th century reverie.

Prime Minister Cameron is trying to put a benign face on the royal charter, but there is no gilding this lily. It is a historic regression. It will end up like the Star Chamber once used to try powerful people in secret. That notorious court drew its name from the stars in the ceiling. One wonders what will decorate the ceiling where the press regulators will rule try to bring the what’s left of Fleet Street to heel? How about portraits of the British editors who sat back and let this happen — or of the editors of the New York Times who egged on the legislative mob against Rupert Murdoch?

The Times tried, with an editorial issued this morning, to claim the high ground in this debacle. It comprehends that the plan just unveiled in London would not...

[BenLurkin]

The lights are going out all over Wurope.

[BfloGuy]

Thank God for our Bill of Rights. Those rights are always under attack, of course, but at least they're written down and can't be completely ignored. I hate to watch the Brits go down this path -- and with an ostensible Conservative as PM.

Of course, only Nixon could go to China ...