Sooey Says

I was on the Internet for much of the day, following the freedom of speech, fair comment debate that is going on hither and yon. In the evening, I watched "Lives of Others" a movie about life in East Germany before the Wall came down. (Thankfully, there's no reference to Reagan in it - I've grown so used to pundits on the right giving credit to Ronald Reagan for the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union that it was a pleasant surprise to see that big honking bulltoid not in the movie.)

Now, I'm not the biggest defender of free speech by any stretch. In fact, the only trouble I've ever had censoring the posts of others on my forum is that I have a hard time being thought of by the deleted as a censor. Nevertheless, I'm sure I fall into a medium-lite category on the Internet for what I tolerate on my forum now and what I tolerated on my blog in the days when I took comments.

And the reason I don't take comments now is because I prefer writing what I want to without concern as to what others might think about it. I like to just put it out there and move on, I no longer care whether people agree or disagree with my opinion.

It's been very freeing, Dear Reader - very freeing.

Very political speech makes me nervous, to be honest. The reaction to it makes me even more nervous. I have a lot to lose and like anybody with a lot to lose, I feel vulnerable when people post radical political views on my forum, although, ironically, I don't feel vulnerable when I post my own on my blog. That's because I don't wait around for a reaction anymore. And believe me, people lurve to react on the Internet. It's like one big cyber knee jerk some days.

It's a control thing, as they say. If I only post my opinion and don't have to worry about the reaction to it, it cuts down on worry about the reaction to the reaction and so on and so forth and more of the same etc etc until you find yourself up at 3:00 a.m. worrying about how the net nannies are reacting to a comment by a poster who may, in fact, BE one of the net nannies.

Meanwhile, the other week on my forum, one of my forum regulars, a shitdisturbing guy who writes brilliantly and holds fairly radical political views (to the Left of my own) posted a thread titled "I Do Not Support the Troops". Now, that's a very contentious post to make these days, but it's also a critical post to be able to make. There's no reason why someone who disagrees with the War in Afghanistan shouldn't post such a view. Yet, it made me nervous. I know my forum is "followed" just as I know my blog is "followed" and although his opinion may not be mine (or may be mine but may also be something I wouldn't post, myself) I'm the one who is allowing it. That alone is enough to imply agreement to the net nannies - who are often lawyers and who know the laws of our fair land like they know the look of their right hand wrapped around a staff of righteousness.

So yeah, quite frankly, I'd edit "I Don't Support the Troops" but I won't let myself. I make it a point not to get too paranoid about free speech limiters. But, believe me, I find it hard. Particularly these days.

But the above is all just about deleting posts I worry go too far (and I've got a fairly wide comfort zone) and not allowing comments on my blog because I have a hard time deciding what's fair comment and what could cause me trouble. I'm just not that political, actually. And I don't want any trouble. Really. I know it's hard to believe, but I don't want any trouble. I just want to write what I think in this wide open forum for political views and let it all be.

Still, Dear Reader, there are people out there (and this is the frightening part to me - given what we know about very recent history) who want IPs posted, names named, people charged and fined - for posting their opinions on political forums and blogs. Opinions that these people deem offensive, that may very well be offensive - and to a majority of us - that they don't just want deleted, but that they want to punish the opinion holder for having and the blog/forum owner for allowing.

And they think they're on the side of all that is right and good. They are absolutely dead sure of this. None of these people have any doubt about their crusade. None. That's what's so damnable about this whole freedom of speech and fair comment debate. The people whose political opinions offend me - greatly - are not the people who scare the shit out of me.

So yeah, Dear Reader, if you feel surrounded, it's because you are.