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From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: On unc!tim: You don't *know* that!
Message-ID: <2614@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-May-84 16:03:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2614
Posted: Tue May 29 16:03:51 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 07:22:51 EDT
References: decwrl.531
Lines: 45


Quoting----------------------

	Discussions of freedom of speech always remind me of an TV interview
with Abbie Hoffman I once read about.  Paraphrasing:

	    Interviewer:  You believe in freedom of speech?
	    Abbie:	  We believe in total freedom of speech.
	    Interviewer:  But surely you don't believe you can
			  yell "fire" in a crowded theatre?
	    Abbie:	  FIRE!!!

	I feel that freedom of speech/press is very, very important.  It is,
after all, the *first* right listed in the Bill of Rights.  I can't think of
one application of censorship that I can justify.

		<_Jym_>
        ._________________________________________________________.
     .__! Jym Dyer <> Digital Equipment Corporation <> Nashua, NH !__.
  .__! Arpanet:  dyer%vaxuum.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA <> E-Net:  VAXUUM::DYER !__.
__! Usenet:  ...{allegra|decvax|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer !__

--------------------------end quote

I'm a pretty strong advocate of free speech, myself, but I don't buy the
notion that there is no right that ever takes precedence.
For instance, yelling "FIRE!" can get people killed and for what??
So someone can express an "opinion" that it would be fun to see a crowd
trampled?  Even yelling "Popcorn" ought to be "censored" for that matter.
Don't the other people in the theater have a right to see or hear what
they've come to the theater for?

How about libel and slander?  Is it okay to ruin someone's career or life
by spreading falsehoods?  What about revealing private details of someone's
life?  Is there no right to privacy?

I've no idea how this might apply to the case of tim, since I don't
know the details.  I just wanted to suggest that while freedom of
speech is a vital right I hold quite dear, it is not the only right.


D Gary Grady
Duke University Computation Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-4146
USENET:  {decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary