Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2015 07:04:35 -0400
From: cryptik
Subject: Dear “Andrew George”
Dear “Andrew George,”
I post controversial opinions here in pseudonymous fashion because of dangerous and vitriolic people like yourself. If you can’t handle the opinions of others then you can feel free to stop reading them and play the lute instead.
You (and certain others on this list who complain about anonymity) are attempting to shut people up when those people are:
– Saying something you don’t like; and
– Don’t give out their real names so you can find ways to hurt them and interfere with their personal lives as some form of perverted self-serving activism against “racism and bigotry.”
Your arguments regarding freedom of speech are irrelevant in a privately operated forum…but I’ll gladly educate you on the First Amendment’s wording: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
There’s no space in there for wiggle room. “Congress shall make NO LAW abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.” Freedom of speech is an absolute under the law. Freedom of speech exists to protect unpopular speech because popular speech does not need any protection. People are not to be punished for their speech; they are to be punished for when they exercise that freedom and the result is substantially harmful to someone else. (Hint: being “offended” doesn’t qualify.)
Furthermore, it would seem that you are projecting. Do you understand what that is? “Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others. For example, a person who is rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude.” Who’s the real bigot here: the person trying to express their opinions or the person trying to shut them up for being different?
In closing I shall leave you with something to consider while you are sitting at your desk in a mental fury regarding what some person you don’t know or care about on some mailing list somewhere banged out on a keyboard:
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” – Aristotle