Monty Cantsin wrote:
Anonymous <anon@anon.efga.org>
This illustrates what a liability the poster has become to the cypherpunks. The group is becoming just another militia front, identified with racism and white supremacy, applauding violent murder of government agents, one step from applauding the Oklahoma killings. Its original purpose all but forgotten, the list has died, poisoned by the hatred flowing from its leader.
What would be the most effective way of managing the problem you perceive?
Probably by writing the kinds of articles you would like to see on the list.
If you don't speak up when someone says something objectionable, you are implicitly condoning it. Silence gives consent. How many people have objected to Tim May's racist comments? Only one or two. How many objected when William Geiger suggested that more nuclear bombs should have been dropped on Japan? None. How many have objected to the notion that residents of Washington, D.C. should be killed? Hardly any. At one time the cypherpunks stood for freedom of speech and protection of privacy. Today they stand for guns, violence, threats of terrorism and murder, racism, homophobia, jingoism. It's ironic to see that the kind of off-topic, flaming, irrelevant posts which have caused such consternation in the past are now the norm. Reasonable people have been largely driven off the list, leaving it to supporters of violence and hate. The sad thing is, this is all unnecessary. The original conception was that cryptography would allow people to protect the privacy of voluntary interactions. Laws forbidding voluntary transactions will be difficult or impossible to enforce. We will move into a world where there is far more liberty and freedom for everyone. There is no need to blast government agents' heads open. There is no need to nuke D.C., or Japan. There is no need to disparage people of other races and cultures. Step back from this immersion in a culture of violence. Draw the cloak of privacy about your actions. That is the true cypherpunk way.