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).