Doug wrote: "It can't be censorship because I don't have state power. The discussion has not advanced a centimeter since it started - it's always the same stuff back and forth, sometimes seasoned with invective. Completely unproductive and tedious." _______
It is true that the discussion tends not to advance past the tedious 'conspiracy or not' quagmire, but other than that, it is no more 'unproductive' than numerous other threads on this list. To some extent, that is the nature of the subject, given that the 'intellectual establishment' such as it is, from George Bush to Chip Berlet have cast the stigma of conspiracy on any discussion of this topic that strays away from the official gospel. Part of my aim is to compel the discussion past these oppresive parameters because I think that it should be a discussion that people should be able to engage in as normally as they might their theories about whether Diego Maradona really did use his hand to score that goal against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter final or whatever. 9/11/01 is already one of the defining moments of the 21st Century, responsible intellectuals should engage in and encourage discussion about it. It is curious that the Ward Churchill thread, which is related and just as 'tedious' still continues apace to the extent it focuses on other aspects of what he said, but you chose to censor only the so-called 'conspiracy' angle. Finally, censorship, while having its origins in the exercise of state power, is not exclusively defined as such. Indeed, any google search of 'censorship' and 'list moderation' will show that this continues to be an unsettled question.
censoring: counterintelligence achieved by banning or deleting any information of value to the enemy www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
censoring: deleting parts of publications or correspondence or theatrical performances www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
Legal or social practices aiming to bar the creation or dissemination (e.g., the publication or public display) of disapproved forms of artistic expression. members.aol.com/lshauser2/lexicon.html
broadly, any government restrictions on speech or writing; more precisely, government restrictions on forms of expression before they are disseminated www.imuna.org/manual/app_a.html
The prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts, feelings or actions from reaching consciousness except in a disguised form, especially consciousness of psychosocial pathology. www.analyticaltrilogy.org/pages/glossary.html
Not allowing certain information to be disseminated. 10.5 highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072492260/student_view0/glossary.html
The practice of suppressing material that is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable. www.sociologyessentials-2nded.nelson.com/glossary.html
Restricting free expression of the editing of public information which as banning of books and movies. schools.cbe.ab.ca/b836/curriculum/social/socialgloss.html