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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Censorship: A Case History (part 1, 11 Jan 84 to 23 Jan 84)
Message-ID: <761@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-May-84 11:03:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.761
Posted: Thu May 17 11:03:33 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 18-May-84 02:16:40 EDT
References: <7200@unc.UUCP> <100@ut-sally.UUCP>, <1841@mit-eddie.UUCP>, <1103@qubix.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 63

[]
I said to myself, "stay out of this."  But, having read some of the
comments concerning Tim's problems, I have to put my 2-cents worth
in.

Censorship is one thing, however, the blatent disregard for the edicts
of my employer are another, be they good or bad.  It seems to me, upon
reading the tons of correspondence that passed between Tim and his
employer, that Tim overplayed his hand to the point that he had
backed himself into a corner with no way out.  Sure, we would all like
to express ourselves in any manner we see fit.  However, when you 
consider that in expressing ourselves, we might be stepping on some
toes, wouldn't it be better to just shut up or leave on our own
accord?

Some of Tim's later messages to his employer were, in my mind, bordering
on insubordination.  I can't think of any organization that would allow
a person to continue their presence very long under Tim's attack.  
This is the real world out here.  From what I could deduce, Tim was
very fortunate to continue for so long behind those ivy walls.  Don't
get me wrong about Tim.  I greatly enjoyed his articles, whether I agreed
or not.  But, when the powers that be tell me to knock it off, I figure
I have two choices:  knock it off or quit.  Now, depending on what the
economic situation is at the time, I will knock it off or quit.  I have
done both.  I do not question the authority of the employer to give me
the boot for the type of things Tim was doing in his messages to his
employer.

Some of the netters out there seem to think that Tim's rights were
being curtailed.  Wrong.  Access to the net is nothing more than a
privilege granted by the powers from rug row.  The priviledge can be
revoked at any time by the reserved parking spacers.  This is how
it works out here in the working community.  Some employers may be
much more liberal in their application of privileges than others, but
if you step over their mythical line, you are going to get your
head handed to you on a platter.  I have seen any number of people
fired for much less than what Tim was doing.  I'm sorry to see Tim
go, but, maybe he will be back from some other point on the compass.

As to the remarks about the staff and faculty at UNC, why don't some
of you people wait and find out what happened from their side of things?
I don't think calling them agents of the USSR is at all fair if all
you read was Tim's postings.  You have to realize that the people
on this net are, in reality, only one dimensional beings.  All 99%
of us know about each other are our postings to these forums.  If
you take your impressions about people from these articles, then
you are going to be wrong 99% of the time when you meet them in
person.  Perhaps Tim wore a banana in his ear and pushed old ladies
in front of trains, we don't know.  On the other hand, maybe the
employers made their people do 100 pushups in front of their
terminals and ran over babies with their pickup trucks, we don't
know.  So, to make snap judgements about people and the situations
they get into, based on net postings, is just not realistic.

I am just as guilty of doing this as everyone else, so don't go
flaming.  Sometimes I read things on the net that causes some
unseen force to make me press the 'f' key.  On the other hand,
I have managed to restrain myself on many, many more occasions.
Perhaps this is the reason why I am still working and some others
are not.
T. C. Wheeler

yer to