Abuse of power

[Carrol Cox]

Henry, I don't know how much experience you have on maillists, but there is
abundant empirical evidence (and the argument can also be demonstrated
theoretically) that application of the principles of free speech (which apply, in
any case, *only* to the question of control of speech by state power) leads to the
collapse of those lists. You should have been on L-I, for example (perhaps you
were) when the the tremendous chorus of dogmatically affirmed male supremacy,
semitism, racism, homophobia, etc. (which the posters of course denied) flooded
the list and made discourse impossible. Doug and Lou go beyond necessity in the
flexibility with which they enforce their relatively moderate rules. Complaints
about "free speech" in this context have the intellectual content of a two-year
old's shitting in his/her diaper.

Carrol

"Henry C.K. Liu" wrote:


> Doug:
>
> I have been controlling myself as agreed, by you are violating your own rules.
>
> Henry
>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> > Enzo Michelangeli wrote:
> >
> > >Watch Louis Proyect's ties in the next few days: perhaps we've got a secret
> > >ally for our thermidorian counter-revolution. His phrase "I pay $70 a month
> > >for the privilege of hosting a Marxism mailing list" spells out a clear
> > >awareness of property rights ;-)
> >
> > Hey, as Ronald Reagan once said, complaining about an opponent's
> > persistence in a debate, "I paid for this microphone!"
> >
> > Doug