12 Mar
2006
12 Mar
'06
11:22 a.m.
On 3/12/06, dubphil <dubphil(a)free.fr> wrote:
Just personal choice. Do you invite every person you see on the street
to dinner at your house? Of course not! We all 'self censor' our
relationships. It doesn't mean we wouldn't enjoy an evening with some
random person on the street. It's just not practical or even of
interest to most people.
That is correct behavior in my mind. First,
before I invite you to m
home I hopefully know something about you. You are a friend or close
acquaintance. I don't invite you unless I'm already sure you are
someone I want to spend an evening with.
on the basis of which criteria ?
what is following is not directly for you Mark as I always find very
valuable all your participations to this list.
No offense will be taken!
It is even dangerous to act by principles. I put in the same bag the
principles of free speech and the principles of censorship. To me both
can have the worst consequences. In fact you should be your own judge
and judge yourself before judging others.
How could I not agree with that. It's very sensible. However I see it
as 'personal'. I may choose to follow these ideas but I do not force
others to follow them.
While it may or may not be clear to all readers of a list like this
around the world there are areas where we do not have free speech in
America. One or two sensible ones are where we are possibly
endangering people, such as shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theater.
Another would be where someone is inciting people to immediate
violence. It's perfectly alright in America, to the best of my
knowledge, to advocate for the overthrow of the government. It is not
OK to advocate for the violent overthrow of the same government.
On the other hand, there is something many people forget, is the
fabulous discover of Sigmund Freud called the "subconscious". He found
that the subconscious was acting as a censor. This censorship is quite
something vital for the human sanity (like murdering your father or
fucking your mother) we call this "Tabou" in French. Something that have
announced the end of many civilization was the breaking of the "Tabous".
In my mind, free speech looks like an open door to the breaking of
tabous.
Here we disagree. Speech in my mind never breaks a taboo. (The U.S.
spelling) Speech may make taboos more apparent. Bring them into the
light of day. (metaphorically) Speech doesn't break taboos. People do.
But no worry, I already think that our USA-like civilization is over...
Here I am not sure of the meaning and I'd like to. Do you speak of the
current USA? The current way France is operating? The world in
general?
Don't be too negative. The pendulum swings over time. That is certain.
Certain people, such as George Bush and Osama bin Laden, will
eventually go away and be replaced by new faces. It's our job to
remain vocal about what we want when that happens. If we don't remain
vocal and speak out then we get what we *didn't* ask for! That is
often a much larger issue in my mind.
Cheers,
Mark
Regards
Philippe