on 02/12/16 7:22 AM, Ian Haddock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This email list has to have the worst signal to noise level in the > universe, [...]
> In the G Book universe, free speech is good, as long as it agrees with > what I believe. As soon as I hear a different opinion, I pull out the > heavy weapons and start blasting away. This whole deal with LEM and > religion is like walking into a strip club and complaining about the > nudity. What? You didn't see the signs out front?!? Sorry, but I just couldn't let an analogy that false slip by (especially when it only adds to the signal-to-noise ratio of which Mr. Haddock was complaining). When people go into a strip club, a focus on nudity is exactly what they expect, just as people entering a LEM list expect a focus on issues relating to lower end Macs. That's what "the signs out front" are there for. To have been relevant, Mr. Haddock's analogy should have been one in which, upon entering this hypothetical strip club, customers are surprised, even a bit disconcerted, by all the campaign literature for a particular political candidate whom the owner happens to support; posters on the walls, leaflets on the tables, etc. While it may well be the owner's free speech right to do this; while you can always say "Hey, if the political stuff bothers you, just ignore it and concentrate on the strippers", or "Hey, it's a private operation, and no-one's forcing you to come inside", or "Hey, if you want to promote your own candidate you can always go start up your own strip club", the issue remains as to whether a strip club is the *appropriate* venue for exercising your political free speech -- NOT whether it's legal, NOT whether it's right or wrong, NOT whether you happen to agree or disagree with what's being said -- just whether it's the APPROPRIATE place to be saying it. I suppose there are those who might argue that the owner of a strip club (or a mailing list, or anything else) has a kind of moral duty to use that location to espouse any issue at any time over which he/she feels strongly, and that for the rest of us to even question its appropriateness is to somehow try and curtail the owner's free speech. Obviously, I'm in the camp that feels there's an appropriate time and place for everything, whether or not I happen to agree with the position being argued. The irony here is that I've just had to take up precious space on this list to make a point that's not all that Mac-related. But I do it in the sincere hope of trying to keep the list precisely that, and to clarify once and for all that *that* is what "this whole deal with LEM and religion" was all about. Thank you. John Bertram -- -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
