Date: Tue, 21 Oct 1997 11:56:08 EDT From: Lipton's Instant Rubber Chicken Soup Subject: FILLER: Some Words, in search of a list... or at least a sandbox? a meander in the waves between harassment and controversy...a moonlight swim where sharks fear to go... [First, there is the lighthouse...] :) Freedom for One or Freedom for All? (: (Ah, that's the question, isn't it? but what if we could have both?) I may have a little different viewpoint on what freedom of speech is all about than some folks. To see what I'm talking about, let's go back a few years... The time is the late '60's. The place is a small town (the high school will have 138 people in the graduating class). The mailbox contains an envelope addressed to a young teenager. Inside the envelope is a copy of a well-known kind of letter. The bold copy across the top reads simply "The cross-hairs are on the back of your neck." There is a sketch of a silhouetted head in a rifle's crosshairs in the middle. And the bottom explains that real Americans don't take kindly to talk about Negroes being equal, and that they may have to do something if the talk continues. Freedom of speech, right? That's what the people who were sending out those letters used to claim, that all they were doing was using their freedom of speech...anonymously, along with beatings in back alleys...that was what freedom of speech meant to them. I don't see freedom of speech as an issue of what you can say--but rather as an issue of who can talk. And as long as there are those who are terrorized into not talking, those who are brushed off, flamed, insulted, beaten and attacked...we don't have freedom of speech. Harassment is the worst kind of threat to freedom of speech. And if there is one person who is afraid to post--we don't have freedom of speech. [On the crags overlooking the beach, under storm and moonshine, wreathed in fog and ice-cold clarity reaching out to forever, it sits. The light flashes, flashes, flashes...calling out to those who are awash in darkness, those who are adrift, those who are drowning, and to those who are stroking firmly. Sometimes it may seem as if the light flickers, blown aside by some gargantuan icon frowning at the persistent feeble candle, and other times the glare of that bright light may seem too harsh and penetrating to bear, but it waits...above the crashing surf, the ripples, the tides and undertows, the drying salt on cracking lips...] I've said before, and I will probably say it again from time to time--I cannot and will not let this list be used for harassment, personal attacks, and other bombardments and barrages from the rest of the arsenal of verbal violence. If you feel the need to practice that kind of "free speech" please feel free to visit usenet newsgroups (where you will find masters of the art) and other lists. This list is NOT a wide-open forum. It is a workshop for writing. And I intend to do what I can to make sure that the kind of freedom of speech--for everyone--that is so necessary in that kind of workshop isn't crushed, but has a chance to flourish and grow. [in the fog, that lighthouse may appear to be a guiding lantern; or in the depth of night, a constellation; or in a heartbeat, it might even be a widow walking quietly on that lonely balcony, peering out to sea with eyes that have seen too far, that have cried too long, that have held hope beyond the bounds of human waiting...] So--writing. freedom of speech for everyone, not just for the majority, the talented, the bigmouths, and others. and... :) But what about that stuff I don't like! (: erotic variations. violence. splatter gore. age. homosexuality, heterosexuality, whathaveyousexuality. religion. abuse. death. life. can these (and other) topics be upsetting? you bet. does that mean that we, as writers, should avoid them? not a chance. freedom of speech for everyone. I would ask that if you are going to deal with topics that you know are likely to be upsetting or controversial, please give your readers fair warning ("this contains violence." and/or "this contains erotic material." are unlikely to be mistaken. yes, put a clear spoiler either in the subject line or in the beginning of the material. and I'll admit--I didn't know what bdsm was, and I thought NC-17 was the shuttle from the Enterprise.) For those who may be wondering about legality--the Communications Decency Act has been ruled unconstitutional (see http://www.aclu.org for details, including the complete text of the declaration at http://www.aclu.org/court/renovacludec.html ). [As for me, that lighthouse, that flickering flame that holds this list together--that's writing.] for a draft statement about harassment, see: http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/faqs/hara970530.txt [Somewhere between the sucking whirlpool of harassment and the harsh reefs of controversy where many a hull lies crushed, the flotilla steers its course. Over the ebb and flow of the tide and the gentle rocking of the waves, steersmen and captains peer into the dark, watching for that glimmer that marks the light house on the headland of writing. And when they see it, they breath deep and trim the steering, gliding into that sheltered bay...] So...write tink