Good job, Stuart.  You may sit at my table at any trial.
 
On Sat, 30 Aug 1997 02:09:56 EDT Wilhelm E Kaosse <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>After reading several simplistic rationalizations like...
>... so if we don't like what is on them we can turn the knob all
>>the way to  the left. WHEN CENSORSHIP THRIVES THE RIGHT TO FREE SPECH
>IS DEMINISHED ALONG WITH  OTHER RIGHTS I HOLD DEAR!!
>       ...I REALLY began to be offended.
>
>Of COURSE, the best response to the original bit of barnyard humor was
>to ignor it but the vigorous DEFENSE of material that was not only
>crude but outside the perameters of the list subject---makes that an
>abrogation of responsibility.
>
>The reason censorship happens is because of irresponsibility.
>Unfortunatly, the 'net will not be as free as it might have remained
>because of irresponsible purveyors of smut. No one particularly cares
>if perverts want to huddle in some private corner but those who
>delight in such things seem driven to foist them on others,(misery
>loves company, one supposes). No-one has a RIGHT to be offensive,
>however!
>
>One reads Bee-L expecting to see certain things there and the item in
>question was a word  picture  that had nothing to do with the list.
>Normally THAT alone would be sufficient to merit a warning but with
>the added dimension of sexual connotations the knee-jerk defense of
>titillating imagry by the more libertarian of our membership seems to
>have brushed all reason aside.
>
>The material was IRRELEVANT to the list AND offensive on top of it.
>That some folks on the list are intellectual lightweights in thrall to
>the rationalizations of the pornographers of the world is unfortunate
>but let them not speak for the general listmembership.
>
>On Suckling Jokes-L the material might've been appropriate---but I add
>my voice to those besieged folks who've dared to point out the obvious
>inappropriatness of such material on the Bee List. Bee-L is not meant
>for such material and posting it is an abrogation of the contract
>implied in the introduction to the list. Defending and encouraging it
>is worse though---THAT is destructive of the order and co-operation
>required on a list with such a large and varied membership.
>
>...Stuart
>(Stuart Grant,(49degrees N; 123 degrees, 20 min W; elevation 20m;
>Strait of Georgia 2k; rural urban combination  in temperate rainforest
>setting; 5 colonies ---3rd year)
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
 
Walter Weller
Post Office Box 270
Wakefield, Louisiana  70784
<[log in to unmask]>
(former farmboy, sailor, oilfield roustabout, engineer, and lawyer).