[alt.hypertext] Threat to free information networks

barry@eos.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (03/12/89)

In article <1784.2416BB47@isishq.FIDONET.ORG> doug@isishq.FIDONET.ORG (Doug Thompson) writes:
>I like to think of myself as a champion of free speech. Generally I 
>abhor censorship. I am also a system administrator.  

	Everybody thinks of themselves as champions of free speech,
Doug. But not everyone qualifies.

>"Canada has an international reputation for being a tolerant society. 

	Except in matters of freedom of the press. But perhaps you were
unaware of that.

>Freedom is great, and we all cherish it. But freedom does and must 
>stop at the point where your fist ends and my nose begins. Hate 
>literature, in my opinion, crosses that line and those who disseminate 
>it have set themselves outside the company of civilized men and women. 

	Interesting: rhf = hate literature. Sure doesn't take long to
start sliding down that slippery slope, once the first step is taken.

>As such I do, and will continue to, disallow the use of my system 
>resources for purposes which attack the dignity and freedom of anyone. 

	Your privelege; your system.

>Civilization has its costs, and one of them is the acceptance of 
>certain constraints on one's freedom to indulge certain destructive 
>inclinations.  

	Yeah, I've heard it all before. There's really no need to pretty
it up so, the message is clear: the only things you want to censor are
those awful, nasty things that really, truly *deserve* to be censored. I've
yet to hear anyone advocating censorship who said otherwise.

>I generally abhor censorship.

	Of course you do. There's just these few special cases...

>Hope that clarifies something. 

	It clarifies where you stand: with Bowdler, and Savanarola.
Sometimes I think I dislike the impulse to censor less than I dislike
the self-serving desires of censors to be so damn apologetic. Kinda
says to me they really *do* know better, in their heart of hearts. If
there were some way to force them into ruthless self-appraisal, maybe
there'd be fewer of them.

	Followups to news.misc.

-  QQQCLC  -                                    Kenn Barry
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