At 11:56 PM 2/11/96 -0800, Bill Frantz wrote:
At 10:18 PM 2/11/96 -0800, Alan Olsen wrote: ...
The v-chip will be less than useful as a real filter tool for those of us who have a different worldview than the censors.
Again, absolutely. Hell, I can't even devise a filter that will let me filter out Jim Bell's rants while letting me see his reasoned arguments on anonymous assassination. (I would love to have him address the Salman Rushdie issue, a man who is still alive despite a considerable announced price for his head. There appear to be limits to who can be subject to assassination for pay.)
Since Olsen claimed to have filtered me out, I'm replying primarily for the benefit of the others on the list. You mention the issue of Rushdie, as if it is some sort of refutation of my idea. Quite the contrary; I think it actually supports me. How so?, you ask? Well, let's consider any potential assassin who might be interested in this "contract." Aside from the obvious moral issues involved here (Rushdie has, presumably, done nothing to warrant his death), the truth is that such a potential assassin would see a number of problems that would strongly dissuade him from attempting to kill Rushdie. 1. There is no way he could be assured that he could collect the award anonymously. His name would certainly "get out," and then he would be subject not merely to "the law," but also anybody who wanted revenge for Rushdie's death. 2. There is no way he could be assured that he would actually receive the award. (How would he prove HE did it?) 3. That's because there is no way he would enforce this "contract" should the offerer refuse to pay. In other words, this situation is VASTLY different than the one that "Assassination Politics" would presumably be able to guarantee: 1. The assassin would be absolutely anonymous; he would not have to trust ANYONE with knowledge of his guilt. 2. The assassin would have a digital record of previous payoffs made by the organization in question, reassuring him that they actually will pay their debt. 3. There will be no need to "enforce" such a contract; failure to pay will be provable in the "court of public opinion." If the offering organization fails to pay, this failure will destroy its hard-earned credibility. So you see, the Rushdie case is simply not any kind of disproof of "Assassination Politics": if anything,it demonstrates WHY "murder for hire" in so rare and ineffective today, despite even a huge offer on a well-known target.