For Whom the Bell Tolls

[Tim May]

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 at 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."