Being as[1] I’m at the IETF meeting this week, I have less time and focus to write interesting bloggery than usual.[2] And so, today I’ll take the shortcut of sending you to read another excellent post by Stephen Suh, on Cogitamus:
American citizens didn’t actually decide on September 11, 2001 to give away their civil rights. We didn’t decide at that point to jettison our historic distrust of authority. The people of this nation have been purchasing minor comforts with their freedoms for a very long time. The next time you think that an anti-panhandling law or forbidding people from giving away food in public parks is a good idea, ask yourself what other freedoms you’re willing to give up. Because I guarantee your freedom from the less desirable parts of society will come with a price. How much are you willing to pay?
I agree with everything Mr Suh says in that post. Quite probably, we can all think of some sort of person we’d rather not have around us. Quite certainly, there’s someone out there who would choose that for each of us. History has shown us — and current events have shown us very clearly — that those who get to choose is a set that changes frequently and arbitrarily. And to the ultimate detriment of a free society in which we’re mostly happy most of the time.
If you don’t want to be the one excluded tomorrow, be inclusive today.
[1] I know that “being as” isn’t grammatical. It’s Noo Yawk. It’s OK.
[2] One could always question the “usual”. Let’s not go there.
1 comment:
Hey, thanks for the link and the nice words!
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