> > On Sat, 14 Apr 2001, Rick Adams wrote:
> >
> > > In response to Jim's post about religious speech in other
> > > nations, both Stephen Black and Paul Smith posted news clips
> > > about the issue of an anti-abortion site that posted names
> > > and addresses of physicians willing to perform abortions,
> > > with the intent of encouraging others to harass,
> > > intimidate, and/or publicly identify these men and women.
I said:
> > I think a bit of correction is called for here. This site doesn't
> > have the "intent" of public identification; it _does_ publicly
> > identify them.
Rick Adams protested:
>
> I never said they _did_ have an "intent" of identification--I stated that
> they DO post the names and addresses, with the intent of encouraging
> harassment, etc., a very different matter.
I say: read the last two lines of Rick's paragraph I quoted
above carefully. It reads, with intervening material omitted:
"with the intent... to...publicly identify these men and women"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rick said:
> Of course, banning Internet sites will hardly solve the problem--if
> you'll note, physicians are not being murdered in their homes (which is
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> what the addresses point to) but at the clinics where they work.
I quote from my post of the news item (and this objection
mystifies me):
> Dr. Barnett Slepian, 52, was killed on Oct. 23, 1998, by a
> sniper as he stood in the kitchen of his home in the Buffalo
> suburb of Amherst, N.Y. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> It includes the home and business addresses of doctors, as well
^^^^^^^^
> as the names and details of their families,
However, on the larger issue of the limits to freedom of speech,
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. For myself, I see
little difference between what is posted on that website and the
call to the faithful to murder Salman Rushdie. Or for that
matter, little difference from having some nutcake post a website
announcement offering a million dollars to have Rick Adams and
his family murdered, with directions on how to do it. I don't
think freedom of speech should extend that far. I regret to
discover that Rick seems to think it does.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
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