[net.followup] students care about the world.

liang@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang) (05/04/85)

> > I realize that the net is not in general considered a polit-
> > ical  forum,  But  the net has grown. I hope and I pray that
> > those of you who read this will do so with an open mind  and
> > heart.
> >                       Richard Stewart.
> 
> You are EXACTLY right!!! The net is NOT in general a political forum.
> While I may (or may not) sympathize with your goals, I don't feel this
> posting is appropriate. I also question the 'open mind' request. In my
> experience, growing up philosophically and politically opposed to 99+%
> of 'my generation', I find that the request to 'please have an open mind'
> really means, "you better believe what I'm telling you or you ain't ****".
> I can't say what's worst, the verbal, physical(!), or intellectual abuse.
> 
> Thank you for the precedent of using net.general for political discussions.
> Now we *ALL* can do it, regardless of race, creed, or sexual persuasion.
> 
> -- 
> Bill Swan	{ihnp4|decvax|...}!uw-beaver!tikal!persci!bill
> Sure you can smoke, if you do it in private, at home, with the shades drawn!

Though I might not agree with Richard Stewart's posting of political messages
to net.general, I think you were unduly harsh on him.  First of all, his
posting, at least, redirected the discussion to another newsgroup.  You, on the
otherhand, purposely directed it back to net.general.  What if we all
responded to the messages in net.general by posting to net.general?  heh?

-eli


-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eli Liang  ---
        University of Maryland Computer Vision Lab, (301) 454-4526
        ARPA: liang@cvl, liang@lemuria, eli@mit-mc, eli@mit-prep
        CSNET: liang@cvl  UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!cvl!liang

jmg@cernvax.UUCP (jmg) (05/06/85)

In article <2039@sdcc6.UUCP> ix673@sdcc6.UUCP (rich) writes:
>
>
>I realize that the net is not in general considered a polit-
>ical  forum,  But  the net has grown. I hope and I pray that
>those of you who read this will do so with an open mind  and
>heart.

That is right, it is not a political forum. Therefore, please keep
your discussion where it ought to be. You might at the same time
make an effort to get the facts right: cases argued on incorrect
or incomplete facts lose credibility.

>     On campuses across the nation students have been trying
>to  do just the smallest amount to end the apartheid slavery
>in South Africa, of South Africans. How can we  continue  to
>ignore  such  a  situation  as  this?  If one is to consider
>slavery the restriction of free movement, then South  Africa
>is  true  a  slave nation in this century. Her native people
>may not leave there labor camps. Yes they are paid, but  not
>even  enough  to  eat.  Money is only as good as the food it
>buys.

Who tells you that they do not have enough money to eat?
Why do you not consult a dictionary to find the meaning of slavery:
defining your own meaning to make it fit the case is trickery.
What is a native of a country? How many natives does the USA
have (be careful on this question)?

>     It is not the time or the place to go into the depth of
>the  problems  in South Africa in this article. All I ask is
>that you people read this, think about it and begin to  dis-
>cuss  it  in the appropriate groups.  Please at least listen
>to what has been going on down there for just all too  long.
>If  a  near by University is holding a sit in or a teach in,
>go to it, you may learn something.

It is certainly not the place. By all means learn something, but
do it in an open manner: sit-ins at nearby Universities are
not likely to be unbiassed. Too often, an emotional commitment
is incompatible with a factual evaluation.

>     Please excuse the quality of my  writing,  between  100
>and 200 of us have been sleeping on the library steps at the
>University of California at San Diego for four  nights  now.
>We  have stage sit-ins and teach-ins with various professors
>speaking. We have had marches and rallies with  up  to  2000
>members  of our very small student body attending. I feel it
>is a worth while movement, and I hope that  we  may  receive
>the support of the net.

No, I do not excuse the quality of your writing. The spelling and
punctuation is awful, suggesting to me that you should spend a
little more time learning elementary subjects. After all, if an
article is important then it is worth a reasonable effort to make
it correct and readable.

>     Thank you for your time. If you have any  questions  or
>comments  for  our  group  we  also  have a pay phone by our
>sleeping bags, (619)457-9179.
>
>                      Richard Stewart.
>
>
>
>(general disclaimer, all opinions here are my  own,  and  if
>you want to sue me I probably don't have enough money for it
>to be worth your while)

Same disclaimer that these opinions are my own.

jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) (05/16/85)

(Editing in parens)

In article <27300001@siemens.UUCP> bhs@siemens.UUCP writes:
>Wake up, (Mr. Lincoln),
>
>The blacks in (the south) enjoy the highest standard of living of all
>blacks in (the world).
>
>The blacks themselves do not really want (freedom), for example the
>chief of the Zulus has published editorials in, among other papers,
>the New York Times arguing that (freedom) will do far more damage to
>(american negros) than current (slavery).
>
>It is very easy, from a point (hundreds) of miles away, to boil a highly
>complex issue down to a very basic argument {white vs. black}, thereby
>conveniently skipping a vast number of facts which would destroy most
>arguments about (slavery) in (the south).
>
>(Slavery) is NOT a way of life to be supported- but starry eyed idealists
>typically will do more harm to a suffering people than the actual cause they
>are trying to combat.
>
That's why, Mr. Lincoln, although I certainly agree with your motives, (why,
some of my best friends are...) this is just not the right time to issue an
Emacipation Proclamation (divestiture statement)!

Wake yourself up, Bernard.
-- 
:::::: Jan Steinman		Box 1000, MS 61-161	(w)503/685-2843 ::::::
:::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans	Wilsonville, OR 97070	(h)503/657-7703 ::::::

pc@unisoft.UUCP (Paul Campbell) (05/17/85)

<munch>
> 
> 
> The blacks in South Africa enjoy the highest standard of living of all
> blacks in S. A.
>
	What more can I say, such incredible logic ....
> 
> The blacks themselves do not really want divestiture, for example the
> chief of the Zulus has published editorials in, among other papers,
> the New York Times arguing that divestiture will do far more damage to
> S. African blacks than current apartheid.
> 
	...
> Bernard H. Schwab
> Siemens RTL, Princeton, NJ
> 

	This a very common statement from people who believe the propaganda
put out by the SA government (remember when they tried to by the Washington
Times?) ... The tribal chief of the Zulus is a hereditry, not an elected
position, it is also paid for (rather well) by the SA government ... many
other South Africans, both black and white have called for support for the
UN economic sanctions (which is what disvestment is all about, the US is the
country that breaks those sanctions more than any other), Bishop Tutu the
Nobel Peace Prize winner only recently got his passport back after calling
for disvestment, in South Africa IT IS AGAINST THE LAW to call for disvestment!


		Paul Campbell		..!ucbvax!unisoft!paul

(The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
those of Unisoft or any of its employees ... etc etc etc)