I agree with Keith.   I lived through the other and it brought riots, death
and placed some of the greatest singers in the world in second position to
people who's only justification for singing was their being of the dominant
race.  The language I heard from white teachers and "authorities" was sheer
nonsense and destroyed the value of classical music for an entire generation
of children from both races.  In short it was a form of cultural suicide.
Thanks for saying this Keith. 

 

REH

 

From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson
Sent: Monday, August 06, 2012 11:15 PM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION;
[email protected]
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms

 

Harry,

At 21:40 06/08/2012, you wrote:



If a person doesn't want to serve people he should be allowed to refuse.


Yes, but only if he is a private person or one of a partnership (with
unlimited liability), not if he's part of a business with the privilege of
limited liability (that is, granted by the people via the government).

Keith




 However, he must post a notice giving his policy - a specific notice, not a
vague one. If he doesn't post the notice, then he must serve everyone.and if
 
This may well make a profit more difficult - or perhaps add to it if many
others agree with him. But then, people who hold unwelcome opinions, such as
racism, would have to declare themselves. Better they do this then keep
their views secret.

I wish I could be more specific, but I seem to recall that black Americans
successfully carried out some boycotts of public transportation to make
their points. The lost revenue caused the transportation systems to cave-in.

Harry

******************************
Alumni Group
Tujunga  CA  81942
818 352-4141
******************************




  _____  

Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 20:06:57 +0100
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms

As to my previous comment, I hadn't realized that Dan Cathy was actually
refusing to serve food to gays, not just expressing his feeling about gay
marriages. So I withdraw my remark. 

Keith
 

At 19:09 06/08/2012, REH wrote:

I remember when restaurant owners posted signs that they "reserved the right

to refuse service to anyone"  which meant blacks.   It took both legislation

and boycotts to stop that trash.   Businesses are service tools.  You have

the honor of starting a business with all of the good of the society behind

you from taxes to highways, to education etc.   

When the "Whole Foods" guy used his business to make his ignorant views

representative of his success, we stopped going to Whole Foods and haven't

been back.   If he's an idiot enough to alienate his clients then he's an

idiot enough to cut corners on our food health.   As for chicken?   Cutting

corners is the name of the game.  What kind of spiritual person is that? 

REH

-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected]

[  <mailto:[email protected]>
mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell

Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 3:44 PM

To: [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME

DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'

Subject: [Futurework] Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms




-----Original Message-----

From: [email protected]

[  <mailto:[email protected]>
mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of PFIR

(People For Internet Responsibility) Announcement List

Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 2:02 PM

To: [email protected]

Subject: [ PFIR ] Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms




                      Chick-fil-A and Internet Freedoms

                http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000975.html



Personally, I strongly support the concept of gay marriage.  Nor have I ever

been within a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

But for many of us who spend a good portion of our lives concerned about the

encroaching loss of freedoms on the Internet, watching the unfolding of the

ongoing Chick-fil-A "gay marriage" saga has been a painfully depressing

experience.

When Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy stated that he defined marriage as the

union between a man and a woman -- that is, the historically traditional

viewpoint -- not only he, but also the individual restaurants and workers in

the Chick-fil-A chain were immediately subjected to what can only be

described as a scathing round of attacks, based solely on Cathy's citing his

personal opinion.

Ironically, many of these attacks came from individuals, parties, and groups

who are normally associated with progressive attitudes and causes (a notable

exception was the virtually always consistent ACLU, which quickly noted

dangers in the expanding vitriol).

Naturally, it is completely within the rights of individuals and

non-government groups to protest views with which they don't agree, and in

the case of a situation such as the Chick-fil-A controversy, to vote with

their wallets by withholding their patronage from the firm.

But the major turn of events, which had the perverse impact of triggering

the "Streisand Effect" and an outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A, was the

pronouncements of various big city politicians implying that they would try

to specifically ban, eject, or otherwise interfere with the business of

Chick-fil-A in their jurisdictions, based solely on Dan Cathy's gay marriage

remark (not, apparently, based on any accusations of violated regulations or

laws on the part of Chick-fil-A).

That some politicians would cynically sense an opportunity to score points

in this realm is not unexpected, even though such actions by government

targeting Chick-fil-A would be slam dunk unconstitutional.

After all, the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment was

specifically drafted to protect unpopular viewpoints from government

attacks.  The Founding Fathers knew all too well what attacks on speech by

government were all about.

And in fact, most of these opportunistic politicos quickly reversed their

boisterous threats against Chick-fil-A, presumably after horrified calls

from their legal staffs.

But again, this is the sort of behavior we have unfortunately come to expect

from many politicians.

What was much less expected, and extremely disheartening, was to see various

progressive forces cheering the obviously repressive threats of those

politicians, with an explicit and frankly terrifying disregard for

constitutionally-protected First Amendment freedom of speech concerns.

They were distressingly somewhat reminiscent of the torch-bearing mobs of

old, substituting emotion for logic -- in this case equating an opinion

regarding gay marriage with illegal discrimination.

(Obviously, any cases of genuine discrimination in violation of laws would

be actionable, but by and large this was not being invoked in these

protests.)

Those of us who spoke out in favor of the First Amendment in this case, even

as we expressed our support for gay marriage, were still mercilessly

attacked in some venues.

Outside of the shame and counterproductive attention that the First

Amendment deniers have brought upon themselves in this matter, these events

also may illuminate key aspects of the battle for freedom of speech on the

Internet as well.

Much like the protesters attempting revenge on Chick-fil-A in response to a

legal pronouncement of its president's opinion, we see various forces on the

Internet attempting to impose their own interests via repressive actions

against the Internet at large.

Various traditional entertainment interests such as the RIAA and MPAA, and

newer groups like the cyber-fearmongers exploiting overblown cyberwar fears,

continue their efforts at subverting the legal and legislative systems to

benefit their own financial interests -- at vast cost to the legitimate

cause of Internet freedoms.

Calls for search engine censorship, vast surveillance and anti-encryption

regimes, oppressive domain takedowns absent legitimate due process -- and on

and on. These are the tools being deployed to undermine freedom on the Net.

And much like those politicians willing to throw the Constitution's First

Amendment under the bus in the name of denouncing Chick-fil-A, we see groups

aligned against Internet freedoms who are so focused on their own narrow

interests, that they simply don't care how much collateral and long-lasting

damage they'll do to the Internet community and freedoms in general in

pursuit of their goals.

Of course the global Internet doesn't have a First Amendment, nor a

Constitution at all for that matter.

So we must depend on national governments -- or perhaps more realistically,

the world's Internet users themselves -- to see clearly the enormous risks

brought to bear by muzzling freedom of speech, especially on the Net, and

particularly when controversial issues are in focus.

Throughout human history, the most powerful weapons of suppression used by

governments against their own citizens haven't been swords or arrows, or

even guns and bullets -- but rather control over information and speech.

When we willingly endorse the obliteration of others' speech rights, even

for what we might consider to be worthy causes, we inevitably provide

powerful ammunition for those forces who will joyously use the same logic

and means to attack our most cherished goals and beliefs.

Perhaps something to keep in mind -- at home, at work, on the Internet, and

even at the local fast food drive-through.

--Lauren--

Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren

Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility:

http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info

Founder:

 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org

 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info

 - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org 

 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance:

http://www.gctip.org 

Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog:

http://lauren.vortex.com

Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: 

Google+http://vortex.com/t-lauren

Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com

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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
  
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
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