At 11:34 AM -0800 5/20/97, Mike Duvos wrote:
It is unfortunate that in a country which advertises itself as some sort of bastion of free speech, one must constantly guard ones speech to make sure that it contains no snippets suitable for an inflammatory sound byte on the evening news.
Just another of the many manifestations of "The Policeman Inside."
No totalitarian state can police all of the citizen-units, so they rely heavily on fear. And on informants, and "capos." And on DARE-like narc programs. (D.A.R.E. stands for "Drug Abuse Resistance Education," a program in many U.S. public schools which is essentially mandatory. My sister's husband tried to get his son excused from the 6-week program and was told by the school, in Long Beach, CA, that while it was not _required_, it was strongly advised and that his son would have to sit alone in the principal's office while the other student-units were undergoing reprogramming. My brother-in-law gave in to the inevitable and let his son undergo indoctrination. I have a black t-shirt I ordered from an alt.drugs ad: "D.A.R.E. (in smaller letters below) I turned in my parents and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." This gets a wonderful response when I wear it in Santa Cruz (or to Cypherpunks meetings), but I had one mother come up to me at a party and tell me she didn't like me wearing it when her 14-year-old son was present. I avoided saying "Fuck off," and instead told her I'd wear what I wanted to wear.) The total state also likes to see would-be spokesmen for liberty eventually nudged (worn out?) toward adopting compromise positions. They become the "capos" of the new regime, the trusties of the police state. As a noted reporter and putative libertarian puts it: "Censor yourself or the government will." (He admitted he didn't like making this argument, but there it was.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."