on 7/24/02 10:03, Entourage:mac Talk at [EMAIL PROTECTED] deftly typed: > Rod, I might add that the only point Thomas was making is that Europeans are > not only very touchy regarding references to Nazi stuff, but actually also > have laws about the use of such things - while Americans love pointing out > their 'free speech' ideologies, while regularly pointing at German and > Austrian politics with the 'Nazi' finger pointing. > > The people being pointed at actually have laws against Nazis, while the flks > doing the pointing allow them to march freely down the streets in full > uniforms (something you could not get away with in Germany or Austria). >
[snip] > > That was my point - hypocrisy, and arrogance. The fact that Americans allow Nazis to march in their streets is one of many reasons we *do* have a free country. On the other hand, the American republic doesn't allow the tiny handful of Nazis here to riot in the streets (as Weimar let Nazi stormtroopers and Communist thugs do in the 1920s and 1930s), nor does it suppress peaceful assembly (as modern Germany does). Having laws against particular points of view is *not* a good thing, Harry. Nazis are repugnant, sure enough. But if they have to rely on persuasion -- as they do here -- they don't get very far, and meanwhile, we don't have to worry about our government deciding what sorts of speech are and are not permitted. After all the German people have been through in the past century, they shouldn't have to worry about such things either, and you would be less "arrogant" and more compassionate if you'd think about *that* instead of blindly defending a bad law. Rod D. Martin http://www.theVanguard.org ________ By all means get married. If you get a good wife you will be happy. If you get a bad wife, you will become a philosopher. -- Plato -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
