On Wed, 31 Aug 1994 rishab@dxm.ernet.in wrote:
jamesd@netcom.com:
Obviously most people do not call MIT a government.
And if MIT built some prison cells under the Admin building and started locking people up in the dungeons for long periods, then people would call MIT a government.
Hezbollah, Hamas, the IRA, the Khmers Rouges lock people up. You may not believe it but there are those who accept their 'rules' under the threat of violence. I suppose 'most people' call _them_ governments?
I'm amazed at the way some of you keep screaming about the violence of governments. Maybe you need to experience some _real_ repression.
I see. It's the ole "It's worse in other places so quit bitching." Sure, it's worse in a lot of places. This is the U.S.A. (or it is where I am). We use most of the world's resources and we are leaders in quite a few technologies (or close to it). That doesn't mean that when things are getting shitty here I have to tolerate it because "it could be worse" or "you could live under a REALLY repressive government." I don't want to live under ANY repressive government, period.