Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Deepa Mohan
On 10/4/07, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 Why is allowed always associated with a government? Can it not be that
 the people don't allow someone to write crap by telling him to stop
 doing it? I say allow in the humblest form, if there is one, where
 people tell a writer to cease and desist from publishing material that
 is irresponsible.



I accept  the sense you use allow... and in this sense, you are
quite right, of course. But how does anyone tell a writer to cease and
desist beforehand?...when seen as objectionable, the material has
already been published, and one can only say, no more of the
same...and in a free society, that can't be enforced, either.

Recently, on another email list that I belong to, one very vociferous
person DID write crap. Several of us pressurized him, by various
direct and indirect messages, to cease and desist, but the moderator
of the egroup had to a. allow his opinion in the first place; b. let
him have the opportunity to answer us; and c. allow him to give a
final apology (well, that was a pretty qualified one!)...but he did so
AFTER the crap email was sent out!

If one tries to say, beforehand, you can't write this, and this, and
this, that is construed as inhibition of freedom. The crap email was
posted in spite of general guidelines existing about what to post on
that egroup! So that's why I feel that only bodies of authority (eg,
the government)  can allow or disallow something.

Deepa.



On 10/4/07, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 Why is allowed always associated with a government? Can it not be that
 the people don't allow someone to write crap by telling him to stop
 doing it? I say allow in the humblest form, if there is one, where
 people tell a writer to cease and desist from publishing material that
 is irresponsible.





Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Srini Ramakrishnan
On 10/3/07, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[...]
 Of course she should be allowed to write. Of course it was an opinion
 piece. It may have some truth in it. But it is misleading and the
 gullible believe it to be the truth. If they believe in the rapture,
 this is much more believable.


Call me gullible, I found the piece believable. The right wing think
tanks have some pretty wild ideas, I wouldn't put it past some of them
to dream of a right wing dictatorship.

The only recent conspiracy I've been witness to is what M$ did to
Linux via SCO and the patent scare. Thank goodness that one ended
well.

Cheeni



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Venky TV
On 10/3/07, Deepa Mohan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On 10/3/07, ashok_ wrote:

 If people are gullible enough to believe something,
 they should be allowed to.

 Well..I would take exception, on principle, to that word gullible,
 which I think is a value judgement. In matters of religious faith,
 there are only different beliefs..

Isn't that what gullibility is all about -- belief in something illogical?

 if someone has a belief that hes
 horse is the tenth avatar of Vishnu, do I have rationally acceptable
 proof to the contrary?

Why would you need to provide proof?  It would be up to the believer
to do that.  Until that happens, you are perfectly justified in
assuming the person is gullible.  (Well, technically not gullible in
this case -- just cuckoo -- unless it was someone else who convinced
him his horse is divine.)

 It is only when people begin interfering with
 others' lives in the name of those beliefs that mischief brews.

This make a leap from gullibility to being a menace to society.  I did
not see any such correlation implied here.

Venky (the Second).



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Biju Chacko
On 10/4/07, Venky TV [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On 10/3/07, Deepa Mohan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On 10/3/07, ashok_ wrote:
 
  If people are gullible enough to believe something,
  they should be allowed to.
 
  Well..I would take exception, on principle, to that word gullible,
  which I think is a value judgement. In matters of religious faith,
  there are only different beliefs..

 Isn't that what gullibility is all about -- belief in something illogical?

I'd say gullibility would be belief in something illogical without
realising it's illogical. Religious belief  (very often) is a
conscious choice to believe in something irrational.

 Venky (the Second).

I think you'd be Venky (the Third) because

a. There were at least two silklist Venkys before you.

b. Somehow the third seem appropriate for you. viz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Madness_of_King_George

-- b



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Venky TV
On 10/4/07, Biju Chacko [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I'd say gullibility would be belief in something illogical without
 realising it's illogical. Religious belief  (very often) is a
 conscious choice to believe in something irrational.

Fair enough, though I'd expect the majority of the hard-core religious
believers to be of the former kind.  Like the ones who ignore evidence
to the contrary and continue believing that the world was created in 7
days or that Adam's bridge was built by humans, just because a holy
book says so.

  Venky (the Second).

 I think you'd be Venky (the Third) because

 a. There were at least two silklist Venkys before you.

 b. Somehow the third seem appropriate for you. viz
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Madness_of_King_George

I know only one other Venky here.  The other one is a Venkat.  Nah
nah nah nah naaah nah! So there!

Venky (the Second)



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Thaths
On 10/3/07, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Why is allowed always associated with a government? Can it not be that
 the people don't allow someone to write crap by telling him to stop
 doing it? I say allow in the humblest form, if there is one, where
 people tell a writer to cease and desist from publishing material that
 is irresponsible.

Because the tyranny of the masses is still a tyranny.

Thaths
-- 
Bart: I want to be emancipated.
Homer: Emancipated?! Don't you like being a dude?
-- Homer J. Simpson
Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread shiv sastry
On Thursday 04 Oct 2007 3:05 pm, ashok _ wrote:
  AIDS
 actually originated from an american polio vaccine trial gone wrong.

Isn't the polio vaccine designed to make Muslims infertile?

shiv



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Venky TV wrote:
 I know only one other Venky here.  The other one is a Venkat.  Nah
 nah nah nah naaah nah! So there!

This is the other Venkat. You are right, I prefer Venki not Venky.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Thaths wrote:
  Because the tyranny of the masses is still a tyranny.

Where did tyranny come into the picture? Don't remember anybody ordering
someone to cease and desist. I used tell someone to cease and desist.
Not allow was used in the sense of using public outcry to make a
person stop.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Abhijit Menon-Sen
At 2007-10-05 09:04:40 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Because the tyranny of the masses is still a tyranny.
 
 Where did tyranny come into the picture? [...]
 Not allow was used in the sense of using public outcry to make a
 person stop.

Oh, you mean those genteel demonstrations of disagreement that one reads
about when someone insults Shivaji or publishes cartoons about Muhammad
or makes a film about Hindu widows in Varanasi?

-- ams



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-04 Thread Srini Ramakrishnan
On 10/4/07, shiv sastry [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On Thursday 04 Oct 2007 3:05 pm, ashok _ wrote:
   AIDS
  actually originated from an american polio vaccine trial gone wrong.

 Isn't the polio vaccine designed to make Muslims infertile?

Timba!

Cheeni



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread ashok _
On 10/3/07, Venkat Mangudi wrote:

 Funny, I was reading this piece on the same topic. Nice one in the New
 Yorker...

 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=2



What struck me most about the speech, were the answers that the
audience expected.  I think its a cultural difference more than
anything.  People asking questions during the Q/A wanted Yes-or-No
answers, while the iranian president gave answers with more depth - in
that he pointed out it was not possible to give a simple yes and no
answer to everything (which seems to be the prevailing black-or-white
american foreign policy, with-us-against-us etc).

Equally odd was what seemed to be an obsession of some members of the
audience with gay rights in Iran. It might be a relevant issue in the
US or in Europe, but in all honesty there is no reason why the leader
of iran would give a damn about it.  The audience didnt seem to have
grasped that - its like they wanted an Iran, in their own
black-and-white american image.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread ashok _
On 10/3/07, Venkat Mangudi wrote:
 The allowed to write was directed at us, the receivers, not the powers
 that be. I believe that some percentage of people who read such articles
 are gullible enough to believe it. Freedom of speech is abused big time
 to such a point that it has become a joke.


Going by that argument, the first thing that would disappear would be
religious freedom. If people are gullible enough to believe something,
they should be allowed to.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread Suresh Ramasubramanian
ashok _ wrote:


 On 10/3/07, Venkat Mangudi wrote:


  that be. I believe that some percentage of people who read such
 articles
  are gullible enough to believe it. Freedom of speech is abused big

 Going by that argument, the first thing that would disappear would be
 religious freedom. If people are gullible enough to believe something,
 they should be allowed to.

It gets worse when organizations that claim to guard free speech abuse it.

http://hserus.livejournal.com/15144.html




Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread Venkat Mangudi
ashok _ wrote:
 Going by that argument, the first thing that would disappear would be
 religious freedom. If people are gullible enough to believe something,
 they should be allowed to.

Good idea, let's do away with religion.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Deepa Mohan wrote:
 And I also object to anyone being allowed to do anything...it
 reminds of the Omani minister who told me, in Oman women are allowed
 to be the equal of men.

Why is allowed always associated with a government? Can it not be that
the people don't allow someone to write crap by telling him to stop
doing it? I say allow in the humblest form, if there is one, where
people tell a writer to cease and desist from publishing material that
is irresponsible.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-03 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Udhay Shankar N wrote:
 
 If that doesn't make sense, consider this one: Virtue is triangular.
 True or false? Discuss.

V, r and u are the three points of the triangle. I,t and e are the sides.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-02 Thread Eugen Leitl
On Tue, Oct 02, 2007 at 06:44:45PM +0530, Venkat Mangudi wrote:
 A new twist on the state of the nation.
 
 Maybe I am just finding the time to read more emails and del.icio.us,

Try reddit and heise (achtung, kraut) as well.

 but I am reading an increasing number of articles stating totally
 outrageous things. Is it just me?

Do you think the things are outrageous because they are true, or
because they are not true?

-- 
Eugen* Leitl a href=http://leitl.org;leitl/a http://leitl.org
__
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-02 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Eugen Leitl wrote:
 Try reddit and heise (achtung, kraut) as well.

Thanks, will try.

 Do you think the things are outrageous because they are true, or
 because they are not true?

Outrageous if they are true, and outrageous if they are not and allowed
to write...




Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-02 Thread Venkat Mangudi
Thaths wrote:
 Outrageous if they are true, and outrageous if they are not and allowed
 to write...
 
 I find your position on free speech fascinating. I would like to find
 out more about where else you would like to not allow people to
 express their opinions. Please add me to your mailing list.

Kindly explain. I said nothing about free speech.

1. I find it outrageous if the events are true. What has the world come
to, etc etc.
2. It these events are not true and the journalists are writing it, I
find it outrageous that they are misleading the readers.

Where is free speech being attacked? Besides, how on earth does it
matter to anybody if I find things outrageous?



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-02 Thread Kiran Jonnalagadda

On 03-Oct-07, at 7:21 AM, Thaths wrote:


Naomi Klein is a fairly respected writer among the Left in the US. And
the article you referred to was an opinion piece. Even if Naomi's
opinion was misled or wrong (one cannot have false opinions, merely
wrong-headed ones), I think she deserves being allowed to write.


Different Naomi, Thaths. This one's a Wolf.



Re: [silk] Fascism?

2007-10-02 Thread Venkat Mangudi
ashok _ wrote:
 I watched the full speech and qa of ahmadinejad at columbia Univ.  It seemed
 to me (by the nature of some of the questions put to him) that he has
 been painted as some kind of modern day hitler by the media in
 america. Its probably just a matter of time
 before bombs start raining down on teheran.
 Given the jerry springer-like reception he had at the university, I
 think the guy handled
 all the questions pretty well.

Funny, I was reading this piece on the same topic. Nice one in the New
Yorker...

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=2