---
> Gambia-L:
>
>I AM TO INFORM YOU THAT I AM NOT INTERESTED IN GAMBIA
L THEREFORE I DON'T WANT ANY E- MAIL AT MY E-MAIL
ACCOUNT.,YOUR COPERATION IS HILGLY SOLICITED.FROM
MODOU MARENAH.
> speech spirals out
> of control, perhaps talk of an objective happy
> medium regulating speech
> will ultimately prove illusive.  May be we just
> ought to let people
> speak their minds.
>
> At the heart of speech and its regulation lies, or
> in the least ought to
> lie, the careful balance between the need to speak
> and the need to
> maintain a level of decorum proper to civil society.
>  What that proper
> level is, has been testing the wisdom and provoking
> the rave of men for
> centuries.  I doubt anyone here will come up with an
> objective standard
> for regulation and if they do, I doubt we will agree
> upon it.  If we do,
> I can bet my fortunes, little as they are, its
> application will surely
> have a pernicious effect on this forum.
>
> But should we persist in the quest here on Gambia-L,
> perhaps, first
> there ought to be a discussion as to why the forum
> exists; and through
> its short history, the purpose it has served.  For
> example, does the
> forum serve as a substitute for the democracy we all
> yearn for on the
> African continent? We have plenty of censorship on
> the continent, what
> has that served?  We can surely draw the balance
> sheet for each model.
>
> Even offensive speech may serve a purpose rooted in
> virtue - venomous
> speech could be therapeutic.  The spew of venom
> without restraint
> defuses passions, so it goes.  It becomes a
> substitute for unconsidered
> action, terrible and dreadful. If one may not speak,
> one will act, and
> often with a sword. And this is not the sword of
> reasoned Justice, but
> that of revolution fierce and indiscriminate.  So
> let them be purged of
> their venom; let them speak.
>
>
> This is not to say restraint of speech is improper.
> But restraint must
> be measured - very measured.   It may test the
> patience of managers on
> this List, but perhaps "dickhead" "asshole"
> "fuckface""bitch" "witch"
> and other words of the same genre are mere nuisance
> compared to the
> blood and tears their censorship may engender.  They
> are but words
> streaming across cyberspace.  My computer's delete
> key is functional.  I
> do not fear the rantings and ravings of lesser (or
> greater) men,
> especially across cyberspace.  What I do fear is
> their schemes if denied
> this outlet.
>
> Morro
>
>
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>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of
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>
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