tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney) (05/16/85)
Now look, guys, I hate racism and neo-Nazism as much as anyone else, and I've bitched out Don Black here, but I think some people are letting themselves get carried away. Specifically, what is this crap about throwing Black's ilk in jail for advocating the overthrow of the government by illegal means? Do you people have no respect for your own rights? Don't you see how this sort of action leads to a general weakening of the standards for the use of force by government in this country? And, if indeed you are the sort of cretin who advocates throwing people in jail for disagreeing with the government and saying it ought to be changed by some means other than a Constitutional Convention (the only legal way to change the whole thing), why not JOIN Don Black et. al.? I am very sure they would be in agreement. Hitler certainly was. As I said, I hate Identity Christianity and other ultra-right-wing hate groups and I wish they would dry up and blow away. But they ARE citizens, and if we start to take away their rights, ours start to erode at an equal pace. Even a Nazi has the right to free speech. Finally, I want to hear someone say they think Patrick Henry ought to have been imprisoned for advocating armed might against the British, if indeed advocating illegal government takeovers is a crime. (In fact, our country and every other is founded on exactly that: illegal revolutions.) -=- Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking ARPA: Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K uucp: seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim CompuServe: 74176,1360 audio: shout "Hey, Tim!"
jim@randvax.UUCP (Jim Gillogly) (05/21/85)
In article <396@cmu-cs-k.ARPA> tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney) writes: > >Finally, I want to hear someone say they think Patrick Henry ought to have >been imprisoned for advocating armed might against the British, if indeed >advocating illegal government takeovers is a crime. (In fact, our country >and every other is founded on exactly that: illegal revolutions.) I won't come out against freedom of speech except to note that advocating armed overthrow of the government is similar to shouting "Fire!" in a theater. However, I'll take issue with the assertion that all countries are founded on illegal revolutions. Consider Canada, for example, or Australia. The Netherlands. Israel (well, OK, there was a lot of terrorist activity, but the actual FOUNDING was done by the U.N.). You get the idea ... -- Jim Gillogly {decvax, vortex}!randvax!jim jim@rand-unix.arpa