Re: Cold Fusion

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <4bqk99$nbv@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
DialTone95 <dialtone95@aol.com> wrote:
>I love the way as soon as people say something that they don't agree with
>they scream for censorship.. hey, the constitution protects your right to
>say whatever you want, but it doesn't protect you from hearing things you
>don't want to hear! Deal with it!

   You need to go back and re-read (or read for the first time) the US
Constitution. The first ammendment keeps the _government_ from
regulating certain articles of speech. (As shown in the courts,
national security, inappropriate speech such as yelling in crowded
theatres, etc are not covered). This only applies to the government
regulating things; private institutions (such as newspapers) are able
to choose what they will (and therefore what they won't) publish.

   Usenet has had many kooks; need I mention Serdar Argic, Robert
McEwlaine, and a whole bunch more? They posted lots of drivel, and
were eventually hounded off the nets by petition and actions by
sysadmins.

   Your phrase "hearing things you don't want to hear! Deal with it!"
is most scary. Anytime somone has the right to say something, everyone
else has just as much a right not to hear it if they choose. You can
walk away from a neo-Nazi gathering, you can killfile a lying idiot.
Nobody has to listen to anyone else; an audience is never guaranteed
by law, habit, or anything else.

   Finally, the 'Freedom of Speech' goes hand in hand with the
responsibility to take the consequences of your words. The ability to
sue for slander is an integral check and balance on the ability to say
anything. If you post accusations against someone, you better be able
to prove them, or you will be ridiculed like the lying scum you are.

Nathan Mates

-- 
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
# And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the
# Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in 
# parables" Mark 4:11, NRSV