Rich wrote:in the old days it was far leftists and devout Christians that were into banning things right and left and centre. The Soviet Union turned banning ideas into a mass industry. I guess it was good for keeping people on their toes. What was the party line last week, could get you sent to Siberia next week. And the line that was denounced last week could become the new party line next week. And yes @Potemkin I did pick up "your giddy with success" Stalin reference in the other thread.
But it strikes me that banning any idea we didn't like really took off in the mainstream after 9/11. I didn't believe that 9/11 was an inside job, but why we can't we talk about it. This was a key stage in my total alienation from the establishment. I want to listen to extremists. I want extremists to be given a platform. I actually want their voices to be amplified, because although the extremists may only be a small even insignificant minority, they normally represent ideas that have a much wider currency in a more diluted, less thought out and coherent way. Personally I'd love it if we could get some real ISIS or Al Qaeda members on the forum, but of course the Liberal's immediate response would not just be to close down the individual but get the whole forum shut down.
I would not want my IP address to be available to people known to kill and be violent.
One time I ran across a poster who who was a right wing, violent extremist. I think this was in the late nineties. He kept saying how he hated anyone who was not from his narrow ideology.
After a lot of back and forth....it was known the man had gassed up his truck, went to drive to the White House. He waited supposedly for Bill Clinton to come out and he was preparing to gun him down.
He was sent to a psych ward because his relatives said he suffered from bipolar disorder.
The man said he could track down my IP address and kill me. And my entire family. His arrest papers he posted on the internet site I was on debating him.
The director of the sanatorium told us on the internet site that he was denied privileges of being on the internet because he did not believe in allowing known violent people to have access to information about other users whom he could possibly act some violent act on due to mental defect.
You should not wish to interact with people who are intelligent, and dedicated to violence in their belief systems. it is risky to try to do so.
You can talk to anyone you wish to talk to. Just join in their platforms online or off the regular grid and do that Rich.
But PoFo is about civilized discussions and disagreements. We can have Nazis on here and ISIS supporters what we can't have are people who want to have civilized discussions and disagreements worried about some crazy person gassing up their truck and getting a hold of a gun and going to their home to kill them.
That is not a discussion. It is living with terroristic threats.
I have dealt with violent people threatening my life and the life of my family and my mother's life Rich.
I doubt you ever had dealt with that shit before. It is not fun. It is stressful and hard.
You worry about the phone ringing away and someone on the other side hoping you die or your loved ones die, being chased by black vehicles. Some racist violent organization wants your loved one or you to die...you go out in the street and you worry about who is following you.
That kind of problem you should not want in your life.
The most important thing for all of us is being able to speak and write without worrying about people who have lost their ability to respect lives that are different than their own.
That is truly living in war conditions, and living with chaos.
When your entire life revolves around worrying about being threatened by violence for thinking differently than what the violent think?
You got problems.
Respect peace and respect living with the freedom to write your thoughts and not be in a facility for mentally ill people or prison with limited time on the internet and people watching your words.
Cherish what you have now. Do not lose it because you are unhappy with the establishment Rich.
You are a very intelligent man, with a fine sense of humor, and you are also charming in your way.
Why limit your own rights by letting in people who only know how to send a message through death and destruction? The only sign that gives off is how hopeless they feel and how much of a lack of alternatives they have for dialogue and for a viable future.
Besides, if you leave I will miss your writing Rich.
I like it. Lol. Even though you might not like mine or respect me much eh?
I like diversity. Even if it is highly unconventional or maybe because it is highly unconventional eh?
I like quality writing. No matter who is comes from.
Saludos.