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From: barry@chatham.uucp (Barry Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: In re: Tom Jennings...
Message-ID: <71uD21w164w@chatham.uucp>
Date: 3 May 91 18:11:05 GMT
Organization: Chatham Host +1 919 932 1142
Lines: 29

Tom, I responded to you privately largely because I regarded your question as
rhetorical, not for any fear of identification with you or your "cause."

For what it's worth, as a law student who's planning to do as much civil rights
work as the firm will allow, I *fully* expect to find myself in the position of
defending the constitutional freedoms of folks that I might not agree with.
I'd work for you, sure.

To pick more extreme examples, I'd work to protect the rights of people whose
philosophies I regard as genuinely potentially damaging--religious
fundamentalists, Marxists, or even card-carrying racists (e.g. KKK or Nation of
Islam folk.)

Everyone is entitled to a defense... and if we don't protect everyone's rights
aggressively, we're setting ourselves up for a screwin' in the long-term.

To twist an old Barry Goldwater quote around, liberty defends extremists, and
that's no vice. :-)


Regards,

Barry (not Goldwater... but my old man did name me after him.  Long story.)

Barry Campbell
barry%chatham@duke.cs.duke.edu / UUCP: [...] mcnc!wolves!chatham!barry
Chatham Host BBS 919 932 1142 / Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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"Pray for a good harvest, but don't stop hoeing." - Bohemian proverb