America wasn't founded so that we  could all be better. America was
founded so  we could  all be  anything we  damn well  please. 
(P.J. O'Rourke)


(This is  obviously from  an American  perspective on  free speech,
so  for those  with  other perspectives,  your  kind indulgence  is
appreciated.)

First, a heartfelt thank-you to Solderpunk for putting together the
circumlunar.space site and making resources  available to all of us
sundogs in need of a place.  The metaphor is indeed appropriate. We
and  many others  need a  space away  from the  HTTP world  that is
rapidly being  filled with advertisements  and turned into  the new
Home Shopping Network and Cable TV Extravaganza.

Further,   the  idea   taken  from   'Schismatrix'  of   having  an
ideologially decriminalized  (to the extent possible)  space online
is a significant one. Free speech  is not an unalloyed good, it can
be used for bad  ends and it can certainly be abused  - but for all
that, I  still believe  that 'the  solution to  bad speech  is more
speech'.

The  truth is  that  making  democracy work  is  hard and  requires
ongoing courage from enough of the citizens to protect the minority
opinion,  to  protect the  vulnerable  from  being crushed  by  the
majority or those with power and greed.

The Founding Fathers  of the United States warned that  it would be
hard.

The reality  is that the  only thing that will  protect minorities,
LGBT,  women, the  handicapped,  the  misunderstood, the  political
outcasts, and  scapegoats, is all  of us resolving that  power will
not be  abused and  people will all  have their  inalienable rights
defended.

The Constitution  and the Bill of  Rights are so much  paper if the
majority of  us are  not willing  to stand up  for people  we don't
like, people who  are different from us, or people  that maybe even
deserve punishment  - and insist  that they are treated  fairly and
with dignity.

If we move too far away from the idea that your right to swing your
fist ends before  it reaches my nose, or anyone's  nose, then we're
in trouble. But similarly, if  we're willing to prevent people from
swinging  their fists  around when  it isn't  hurting anyone  we're
headed in a dangerous direction.

We have  to be  willing and  able to deal  with things  that merely
offend  us. The  other fork  in  that path  leads to  the world  of
'Fahrenheit 451' or a lot worse.

Back  in  the days  when  Usenet  was  the  main online  forum  for
discussion, in addition to a  variety of mailing lists (Majordomo!)
and bulletin  boards still hanging  on, there was the  killfile. If
you couldn't deal with certain topics or posters you were able to -
and responsible for - not  reading their input rather than engaging
in childish complaining  about things you had  every opportunity to
avoid reading. The  expectation was that everyone was  an adult and
could moderate their own behavior and be responsible.

Damnit, I miss that. Thanks again  to Solderpunk for this space and
for having the  guts to offer it  to all of us sundogs.  May we all
prove worthy of the gift.




     NO CARRIER