FOLLOWUP TO "LAST SATURDAY"
     Tom Jennings
     Node 1:125/111

     This short article is a followup to the one in FNEWS5-48; maybe
     it will provide a little background and answer some questions.

     The FidoNet itself was based upon the principles I try to live my
     life by; respecting others rights, principles and lives; self-
     determination, and organization by cooperation, not coercion. All
     of these are, after all, the most basic anarchist principles.
     There is no contradiction in what I say vs. what I do.

     The language in the article was a violent response to a violent
     day. And yes, my life is my personal business only, and not
     yours: however there are people out there who want to meddle in
     MY business for THEIR reasons. I have no right to interfere with
     you if you like to hang out in suburban malls, stay home and read
     the Bible, join the army, drop out of school and become a hippy,
     or anthing else that doesn't interfere with MY life.

     The very first negative comment I received said "All that you
     have done is to reinforce the views about homosexuals held by
     such unthinking individuals as the driver of that car. And you
     may have steered some of the rest of us toward the same path by
     your inclusion of such explicit terms and references..."

     Well spoken: this is exactly what my article is about. The second
     sentence above says that in response to what I wrote, violence
     against me, and the legal (or not) removal of my rights is an
     acceptable response.

     Now after reading my article you could call me an ass, tasteless,
     rude, disgusting, awful, inconsiderate, perverse, whatever you
     want, you're entitled to your opinion. But violence? I cannot
     tell you how common this train of thought is, and how often it is
     followed up with violence or death. It is simply a
     rationalization of the desire to commit violence upon someone,
     for reasons of the perpetrators alone. This is what my article is
     about. No, it's not very pleasant at all, is it?

     The article had almost nothing to do with sexuality; it had to do
     with fascist (look it up in a dictionary) behaviour, as it
     exists, today, in the USA. I never said that IV (or any other)
     drug use is "OK", or unprotected anal sex is "OK", or that you or
     I would find these things comfortable subjects. Nor are they
     related except for disease transmission. Gay people do them no
     more often than straight ones. The fact remains that many people
     DO do these things, that's life, even people who read this
     newsletter.

     Defending peoples rights is not the same as defending what they
     do. I will defend myself, my friends, and your right to live as
     we each see fit. That, my friends, is what fighting for
     individual freedom, and First Amendment rights, really means.
     Have you ever read the United States Constitution? Read it, and
     see the intent behind the words. Look around you and see the
     attempts to circumvent it. Send me $1.00 (Tom Jennings, Box
     77731, San Francisco CA 94107) and I will mail you a typeset
     copy, nicely annotated, for your reference.

     I've said more than I planned on the subject; I'm not here to
     argue with anybody, you can believe what you want. I do not like
     to argue politics or personal ethics, it offends everyone. This
     is the last I will say on this subject.

     Remember the quote by that Catholic priest in Nazi Germany: "When
     they came for the jews, I didn't object because I wasn't a jew
     ... when they came for me, there was no one left to object."

     Sheesh, I'm not usually so grim and serious. I promise I'll
     shut up now. I have received more positive mail than hate mail,
     and that's a good sign. But hell, I knew the net was filled with
     mostly cool intelligent people, and could absorb something a
     a bit (ahem) shocking. Sometimes things don't get spoken,
     because... they just don't get said. Inertia. Time to speak out,
     boys and girls.

                                 * * *

     As an aside, from my point of view, the network, all 4000+ nodes,
     seems to run amazingly well. I know there's a lot of fighting
     over control structures and such, as in the current trauma over
     "other" networks, but the fact remains I can send a message just
     about anywhere with incredible reliability. We haven't been
     struck dumb by Babel, the nodelist is still wonderful, and the
     RCs and NCs do a damn good job. Looks great!!!


     Ref: FidoNews 6-01 (02-Jan-1989)
     http://195.226.109.55/jhassler/wif/doks/fnews/fido601.txt
     By: Tom Jennings