orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (03/25/85)
> > I am really frightened by the number of people on this net that have no > problem with associating a fellow netters' name with Comunism. Maybe it's > because I deal with data communications and data bases, but I know how > easily this type of thing could be interpreted wrongly and then propogated > very quickly. It's also a bear to correct once it's done. > > Try to remember how many systems and organizations these postings go through > the next time you want to post something that could literally ruin a person! > If my reputation gets ruined because people accuse me of being a Communist whether such accusations are true or not, then our country will have come to a sorry state and I also do not want a stake in any system which would ruin someone on such a basis. We may be heading in that direction but I doubt that the situation will reach the point it did under McCarthyism. The time for that is past. What may become the new basis of persecution if the New Right has its way is "secular humanism". As netters may be aware several years ago the Congress very foolishly acceded to right-wingers demand to ban "secular humanism" from the nation's schools. That nobody has been able to clearly define "secular humanism" (except that it is every reasonable conclusion of science that the ranting right disagrees with) does not prevent its possibility for being used as a tool of persecution-it may even make it better, for how can one disprove that one is a "secular humanist"? Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin does this all sound vaguely familiar? tim sevener whuxl!orb democratic socialist and proud of it!