[thechat] reporter fired for reporting

[Martin Burns]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Bob Haroche wrote:

> You're correct but I submit that you're correct in such a technical or
> abstract sense that I wonder if we're having the same conversation.
> I'm not purporting to discuss these issues on a philosophical level,
> but on a material, flesh and blood, bullets are flying level. Peter
> Arnett getting fired might be on the same spectrum of evil as an Iraqi
> dissenter having his tongue cut out, one punishment simply being more
> "subtle" than the other, but personally I don't see it that way, nor
> find it useful to see it that way.

As I said - it's progress.

However, the supposedly 'free' governments have plenty of severe ways of
fucking with your life if they choose (and have chosen) to disagree with
your presumption of free speech.

McCarthy springs to mind, as does the Patriot Act sections 411 and 802.
I'm sure jh could give chapter and verse on MI5 activities.

Cheers
Martin

-- 
"Names, once they are in common use, quickly
 become mere sounds, their etymology being
 buried, like so many of the earth's marvels,
 beneath the dust of habit." - Salman Rushdie