wisen@inmet.UUCP (03/04/84)
#N:inmet:7800064:000:2749 inmet!wisen Mar 1 23:52:00 1984 Speaking of Dangerous Ideas ... I just read another Phil Polli article which needs comment. 1) Phil, your article was dated March 3rd, and I'm writting this on March 1st, so fix your clock. 2) I haven't got time to be comprehensive [I don't get paid to do this], so don't flame at me for vagueness, or I shall douse you with details (in a later article)! I also haven't got a visual editor, so don't flame at me for neatness. 3) Phil said, among other things (I'm quoting out of context): >The bottom line of all this is >that I think that there are a lot >of ideas that get spouted in this >news group that are very dangerous. >The excuse that they are just opinions >doesn't placate me at all. >I realize that it is not possible >or desireable to restrain these people >from proposing these ideas, but I >believe that they should be rebutted >as firmly and quickly as possible. >I also don't think that it is out of >line to make certain deductions about >the intelligence and/or knowledge >of the proposer, either. I agree that ideas can be dangerous, and that many ideas I've seen in these pages are dangerous by my standards, BUT: Don't forget that almost every concept operating in our way of life was once considered, by someone, a dangerous idea. a) Giving people a say in government was "dangerous" at various times and is considered so dangerous in the Phillipines or El Salvador or Poland today that you can get shot for being a Democrat. b) Giving blacks the vote was considered very dangerous through the end of the sixties (in our South), and is still considered dangerous in South Africa. c) Giving women the right to vote - was that a dangerous or just a foolish idea? I forget the context. d) Giving wombats the right to vote is still a very dangerous idea :-) Now, personally, I think Nazism is a dangerous idea, don't want Nazis marching in my neighborhood, and hope it snows whenenver they march in Skokie. But I [half-heartedly] support their right to march [once they've filed an environmental impact statement, and 10,000 permit applications]. In the long run, we're all dead, and the bad ideas die with us, while the good ideas endure and are refined. Better to let all ideas live and die a natural death than to perform euthanasia on the ideas YOU don't like. And ridiculing an idea [or its proponent] is not the way to kill an idea anyway. There's an old saying... "Never argue with a fool ... people might not know the difference between you." [But keep gun permits from wombats, Communists, and Nazis] . |\ ------Bruce Wisentaner /| \ cca!ima! \ / | \ esquire! --inmet!wisen o / | \ harpo! / ^_. _/___|===== O\/`O \_______/] \_(