ouch. A very tough dilemma. How many shades of gray are needed here?
Maggz c680910@showme.missouri.edu
"A Husband is a Convenient Part of the Furniture of the House" Mary Wollstonecraft
"I am more than what you define and delienate me to be" Elizabeth Wurtzel
On Sun, 17 Jan 1999, the great tinkerer wrote:
> i rarely try to start a thread on this list... but i was watching tv
> for the first time in ages....
> so it was one of those dateline specials, some kids wrote up a newspaper
> that was (subjectively) offensive and threatenning... got me
> thinking...
>
> in our society there is an "i have rights" meme. it seems as though
> when anyone is offended by anything anyone does they have a right to
> stop them. conversly: when people are stopped or prevented from doing
> anything that they think they have the right to do, they will take it to
> court.
>
> the simplest example of this meme would be a censorship vs expression
> argument. freedom of speech vs freedom from speech (i wont get started)
>
> another example (which i probably saw on dateline or 20/20 hehe...)
> airport securities are supposed to inspect people based on certain
> criteria. if a person seems to be arab/islaamic they will be inspected.
> obviously you see how the person feels there rights are being violated
> because of their appearance... but would it be justified if a bomb or
> weapon were discoverred in any one search?
>
> so where do people get the idea that they have any rights at all that
> can be violated?! its a cultural meme i suppose. perhaps we should
> have a dictatorship/martial law every 10 years so people actually
> appreciate there rights instead of taking them for granted...
>
> ~the great tinkerer
>
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