> after all, I have not met mr tamas, This might be a difference: I did
> > The thing is, I wonder if the Europeans on the list are not perhaps more > appreciative of what they see as a sort of nice stringent nastiness because > their daily lives are really quite insulated from such behavior. You think so? I'm living in a parisian "hot" suburb and teaching in a"high violence area" highschool, some I'm not sure I'm not aware of such questions. Besides, it appears that Eric and Tamas are Europeans -and as far as I can know about it, the Death monster could also be one- Living in > some parts of northern Europe, for instance, is quite a bit like living in > Celebration. No it's not: we do not have getthos, either for poors or for richs, and certainly not private armed milice to check the "border" between the stinky fake paradise and the outside world. >Everyone is neat and clean; almost every aspect of the > appearance of one's dwelling is regulated (in my ancestral town in Norway, > for instance, one can only paint one's house in one of 3 approved colors). > Even private names can be regulated: one can only name one's child legally > from names on the official list. Gun control is stringent. Only the wealthy > can hunt and fish and gather. Those aspects of life that are not regulated > by law are often effectively regulated by custom. That's partly right, and partly changing too, but anyway, the neat and clean appearance, hides sometimes the most perverse and obscene underground violence and disease... > Freedom is damned complicated. Yes you're right, but one doesn't defend individual freedom by using the ways of the freedom busters: if one has pistols to save one's goods, then burglars have machine guns, so it's not a solution. Besides, I think it's Mark Twain that said that if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem will appear to you as a nail. Which means that if I agree with the necessity of expelling the Death guy, the procedure still seem to me abusive regarding Tamas and Eric, even though I agree with you, that thier posting have never been "very"constructive. Bertrand
