[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by Socratoad

OK friend, point well made, and so I accept your reasoning.

Thanks.

Please forgive me (a Third Reich amateur historian) if my judgement becomes more than just a little clouded ....... For when I picture secret service persons protecting the speeches of Coulter ...... then a picture of the Brownshirts protecting the speeches of Adolf Hitler in his early days spring instantly to mind.

Some of the hate Coulter spews is not unlike that spewed by Hitler, and yet among the twenty-some odd million people slaughtered were many of those who protected his right to speak ....... this is not intended to be a reasoned argument, but rather an attempt to explain just what colours my judgement
in this case and ever so many others.

I actually have a lot of respect for that viewpoint and I am fascinated by the idea that free speech may be overrated (to put it very simplistically). In fact livius and I discussed free speech principles at length amongst ourselves and in various other fora as we were putting together the guidelines for this site. We are still thirsting for a good long hashing out of how to handle propaganda here, for example.

In other words because of our committment to free speech, we have no rule prohibiting the posting of hate propaganda here. We made that choice because we both subscribe to the belief oft touted by the ACLU that more speech is always better than no speech. Are we wrong? I won't speak for livius but I know I wonder about it a lot. I am not particularly interested in providing a medium for propagandists to spread their venom. At the same time, I honestly believe that hateful bias is neutralized by exposure to the light of public scrutiny, and nurtured by censorship.

My value system has been firmly formed by the events of WW11 and my proximity to that time much more than almost all of you on the internet, and so over a period of time I have found that my perceptions and those I meet on the net, although not profound, are subtly different.

Regretly this has ofttimes led to misunderstandings.

And given the importance of that historical period I'm overjoyed to have someone with your perspective on it and general openmindedness as a member here. I hope you don't ever misconstrue any disagreement I might have with your stated opinions as a character judgement. That isn't my intent.