# Stupid liberal idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086 "2011-04-20T15:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 100
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1981 "2014-06-19T14:54:06Z")
_snort_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1982 "2014-06-19T15:05:57Z")
It’s really not at all hard to explain. My county uses the same sort of blocking software. Among the general types of sites blocked are those of hate groups and groups that advocate violence. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1983 "2014-06-19T15:10:00Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > First the IRS, now this. It’s getting to the point that schools aren’t even HIDING the fact that they’re liberal indoctrination centers anymore. > [Fox News Flash | Fox News](http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/19/student-schools-computers-blocked-gop-conservative-websites) > > [Chicks On The Right – Because Conservatism Needs a Makeover](http://chicksontheright.com/posts/item/26021-high-school-blocking-conservative-sites-nice) Yeah, maybe it’s an insidious campaign to turn children into libruls… Or maybe the school set up their web filtering software incorrectly. [Hanlon’s Razor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor) makes me think it’s probably the latter. Those programs are notoriously bad about false positives, and the average school’s IT person is probably less adept with computers than the students. Of course, I’m against schools censoring the web in general, but that’s not really a ‘liberal’ idea, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1984 "2014-06-19T16:01:33Z")
Perhaps the real story here is “conservative high school student doesn’t know how to use proxy.” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1985 "2014-06-19T16:13:06Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > First the IRS, now this. It’s getting to the point that schools aren’t even HIDING the fact that they’re liberal indoctrination centers anymore. > [Fox News Flash | Fox News](http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/19/student-schools-computers-blocked-gop-conservative-websites) > > [Chicks On The Right – Because Conservatism Needs a Makeover](http://chicksontheright.com/posts/item/26021-high-school-blocking-conservative-sites-nice) WOW. You really need to employ some critical thinking every now and then. This came in the ‘computer crash’ thread in the Elections forum. I posted this: > [@](#): > > Quote: > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by magellan01 > > And on a similarly egg-sucking, principle-lacking note, we have this: > > Gotta say, this sounds like horseshit. We have the word of one 18 yr old student? The reporter didn’t bother to get corroboration from other students? Meet the kid in the library and see for himself? See what the message was? (web security programs like Websense and Blue Coat will give a message when you try to access a blocked site. It states the reason it was blocked. I have been blocked by Websense on certain threads here at SDMB, but not others) > The article said the kid asked the Superintendent about it, but the reporter didn’t??? Took everything the kid said at face value? Made no attempt to verify facts or get a comment from anyone at the school??? This serves as an example of the horrid state journalism is in. You have linked to a ‘news’ story that 100% journalism-free. You really need to ask yourself ‘If the story was that the kid complained that school was blocking liberal sites, would I be so quick to take it as truth?? Or would I expect the ‘reporter’ to actually do his job?’ ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1986 "2014-06-19T16:24:08Z")
As it stands right now, the story is not ‘the school blocks sites’, the story is ‘a kid _SAYS_ the school blocks sites’. And given the shoddiness of the ‘reporting’, I can’t even be sure of THAT. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1987 "2014-06-19T16:33:22Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > YOu don’t understand moral hazard apparently. When your debt load drops due to refinancing, it’s common to take on more debt. With student debt, this is particularly likely. > > It’s economics 101: reducing the price of something causes demand to increase. But, what you are describing is no “moral hazard.” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1988 "2014-06-19T19:17:17Z")
The school district of which Nonnewaug High School is a part has posted letter ([PDF](http://www.ctreg14.org/uploaded/homepg_photo_rotation/June_19_2014.pdf)) addressing the web filter thing. I’m a computer security guy by profession. Web filtering products categorize sites by a mixture of automated scanning and human review. Since there are a gazillion sites, new ones added all the time, content changing all the time, domains being recycled, etc., it’s impossible to categorize the entire internet consistently. When I read the story, I thought, “I bet the sites he could get to were just uncategorized.” According to the letter posted by the district, that appears to have been the case. This kind of thing happens with every web filtering system. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1989 "2014-06-19T21:21:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > We say that about you, too. Do you take lessons at being an annoying little maggot or is it something you come by naturally? Or possibly both? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1990 "2014-06-19T21:25:13Z")
Why does the SLIotD provide so much fodder for the SRIotD? Really, this is just asinine and sub-par opinion-writing. The web filters are subcontracted out to Dell SonicWall. Is Dell actively involved in building “liberal indoctrination centers”? Was there anything out of the ordinary about the procurement process? Does the service have mechanisms for individual clients to add to their database? If so, does it log who and when custom filters are added? At what point in setting up the system did the administrators determine the cause of the Benghazi attack? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1991 "2014-06-19T22:09:11Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Why does the SLIotD provide so much fodder for the SRIotD? > > Really, this is just asinine and sub-par opinion-writing. > > The web filters are subcontracted out to Dell SonicWall. Is Dell actively involved in building “liberal indoctrination centers”? > > Was there anything out of the ordinary about the procurement process? > > Does the service have mechanisms for individual clients to add to their database? If so, does it log who and when custom filters are added? > > At what point in setting up the system did the administrators determine the cause of the Benghazi attack? You’ve got 2 problems here… You assume humpy’s influenced by logic and facts. You assume that even if he could be influenced, humpy has an even passing interest in the truth. Humpy is concerned with one thing only and that’s parroting the idiotic narration that’s constantly being replayed in his addled head. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1992 "2014-06-19T22:17:19Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Do you take lessons at being an annoying little maggot or is it something you come by naturally? Or possibly both? If you have time for stuff like this, do you think you might spare a moment to acknowledge that you apparently don’t fully understand how web-blocking software works, and that, at the very very best, you are trying to pump a single news story of dubious accuracy into some kind of bizarre conspiracy theory? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1993 "2014-06-20T07:50:45Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Schweitzer has always been a Monet candidate. If you look at him from a distance with excitement in your eyes, he looks really good. But once he starts actually campaigning and getting out there and talking to national media, you realize he’s a MONTANA Democrat, not a New York City Democrat. You say as if it was a bad thing. We need more Red State populist Democrats even if like Governor Schweitzer they occasionally say regrettable things. He’s the closest we have to a Truman in our day and age. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1994 "2014-06-21T13:37:59Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > First the IRS, now this. It’s getting to the point that schools aren’t even HIDING the fact that they’re liberal indoctrination centers anymore. > [Fox News Flash | Fox News](http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/06/19/student-schools-computers-blocked-gop-conservative-websites) > > [Chicks On The Right – Because Conservatism Needs a Makeover](http://chicksontheright.com/posts/item/26021-high-school-blocking-conservative-sites-nice) Rightwingers get outraged by the silliest things… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1995 "2014-06-21T15:18:22Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Even one is too many. This is an example of the mental defect that makes Clothy unable to judge issues sensibly. A combination of gullibility and surety that can divert his way of thinking in an instant, and nail the rudder in place, making it immune to change once set. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1996 "2014-06-22T12:53:21Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > This is an example of the mental defect that makes Clothy unable to judge issues sensibly. > > A combination of gullibility and surety that can divert his way of thinking in an instant, and nail the rudder in place, making it immune to change once set. And _this_ is an example of the mental defect that you and other libs share. You think shit like that is perfectly acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1997 "2014-06-22T15:41:52Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > And _this_ is an example of the mental defect that you and other libs share. You think shit like that is perfectly acceptable. Shit like acknowledging facts? I can see where that would be anathema to you. It’s so much easier to maintain an anti-factual worldview like (modern) conservatism if you just ignore facts and reality. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1998 "2014-06-22T17:30:32Z")
This reminds me of being a teacher, asking my students how they were getting around the website blocking software to play online games and stuff, because I needed to get to some educational videos on youtube that were being blocked, and teachers were not given access to get outside the web blocking. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/1999 "2014-06-22T17:38:54Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > And _this_ is an example of the mental defect that you and other libs share. You think shit like that is perfectly acceptable. I don’t think it’s acceptable, if it’s true. I’d like to know that before making a judgement. You assume it’s true, because you have a delusional world view that’s based on Glen Beck’s paranoid rantings. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/2000 "2014-06-22T17:46:49Z")
It’s probably true, but probably not intentional. My own company used Websense for awhile and now McCafee, and some political sites are blocked as “hate sites”(both left and right, and they just aren’t hate sites). A wrestling site is blocked for violent content even though it’s entirely text and every other wrestling site I know is accessible. Just let the administrator know and they’ll whitelist the site. It’s understood that these applications block more than they need to. So you just go back and whitelist sites that shouldn’t be blocked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=99) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=101)