Miata Mailing List: December 1995, Message #11
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   From: "Mike (the code is 4989) Lastort" 
Subject: Freedom of expression
   Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 09:30:49 -0500

Warning - no Miata content whatsoever. Please delete if you are not 
interested in what I have to say.

First, I want to apologize for posting this. 

I am doing so because there seem to be some on the list who feel that I 
should go away, and those individuals have told me in private e-mail. 
Those individuals do not like what I, and others on this list, write. This 
is for them:

The controversy seems to be related to the following sentence that I 
wrote:

"I feel that people on this [list] (sic) telling Guy Stockwell he cannot
post messages about Dri-wash is equivalent to Nazis burning books that 
they perceived as sedetious."

This sentence was part of a larger message. Those individuals who do not 
like my views feel it is better to simply quote it, ignoring the context 
of the entire message. For those of you who want to see the, it should be 
in the archives. Alternatively, if you ask me for it, I'll send it to you 
privately.

Anyway, notice the subject and verb of the above sentence: "I feel." In 
other words, the way *I PERSONALLY SEE IT* censorship is wrong. The Nazis 
were (and are) wrong.

I never called anyone on this list a Nazi. I said that I feel that people 
on this list telling Guy to not advertise and Nazis burning books are both 
bad. Preventing a person from exercising his right to free speech is 
wrong. If that act is committed by well-intentioned people on this mailing 
list or by not-so-well-intentioned Nazis burning books, it is still wrong.

Censorship is a bad thing in my mind. The Nazi Party is a bad thing in my 
mind. Some on this list appear to not want me to equate censorship with 
the Nazis. The two go hand in hand.

As far as I'm concerned, once censorship has reared its ugly head into a
society, it is symptomatic that that society has begun to degenerate.  It 
is a personal belief that I have. I do not ask my detractors, or anyone 
else on this list, to share in my belief that censorship is wrong. If some 
of you feel that telling someone they are not allowed to speak in an open 
forum, then I guess that you think censorship is ok. I have a hard time 
understanding that viewpoint. I adhere to the beliefs of the founders of 
the USA, individuals who believed that freedom of speech was a vital 
right.

Right now, it looks to me like this society is beggining to fall apart. 
People are telling others to shut up more and more often. I hope it gets 
better.

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|                          | "People are divided into two      |
| Mike Lastort             | groups - the righteous and the    |
| lastort@access.digex.net | unrighteous - and the righteous   |
| The code is 4989         | do the dividing."                 |
|                          |   - Lord Cohen                    |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| GCS d- s+:++ a C++++(--)$ US+ P L+ E-- W+(-) N++(-) K  w+++  |
| O-- M-- !V PS+++ !PE Y+ PGP+ t++(--)@ 5+++ X+++ R(-) tv+ b++ |
| DI++ D+ G-- e+ h-(--) r+++ y+++                              |
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PS - I'm going to have to start being righteous and dividing you people 
into groups!

:)