Re: The Magic Question

[chuck <chuck@cxf111.rh.psu.edu>]

L. Detweiler sez:

> You don't believe in honesty, though. You believe you have the right to
> invade other's attention with your stealth identities. 

Invade other's attention? What newspeak is this?

> You believe you have the right to stick any mail message in anyones mailbox

yes I do. If you don't like it, run a filter program to remove them before
you ever see them, or delete them. The US Postal Service says the same thing,
except that it better have a stamp on it.

> to post to any newsgroup you wish. 

Yes I do. although I will not post to just any random newsgroup, unlike 
some people who need not be mentioned, I do not bother the rest of the
world with paranoid delusions of conspiracy that would make Joe 
McCarthy congratulate me from the afterlife.

I am unaware of newsgroups that ban postings from specific persons.
Please inform me of them so I may not post to them in the future.

>You believe that you have a right to trample on the rights of others. 

My right to free speech allows me to dress in a white sheet with
a pointy hat and burn crosses if I feel like it. My right to free
speech allows me to say the holocaust never occured. I do not, because
such actions are despicable. I see them as tramping on the rights of 
others. I will support the right of the cross burner or the right of 
the holocaust denier to speak, no matter what the outcome is. Does 
this allow me to trample on the rights of innocent parties? possibly. 
Am I willing to accept the tradeoff?  Yes I am.

>you know you are perverted, but attack me as Satan for telling you that.

I know you are perverted. I do not know I am perverted.
I don't attack you as satan; I dismiss you as a lunatic.

>You think you have the right to lie to anyone who asks, `who are you?'

Ah, but I do have the _RIGHT_ to lie. Free Speech protects my telling
wildly ridiculous stories (without it, you'd be in deep trouble) that
have no basis in fact. Further, the only time I am obligated to tell
the truth is when I am under oath, and even then, there are times when 
I will not under any circumstances tell the truth (ie if a judge demands
I hand over a pgp key, I'll take contempt of court over violating those
beliefs I hold sacred over all others)

> Tell me that question. I will go away when someone tells me the question.

one cannot tell a question. To tell is the realm of the declarative 
sentance. Since declarative and interragotory sentances are mutually
exclusive, are we to assume that since telling a question is not 
possible that you will never go away?


Please find a rock to crawl under.