Censorship and discussion...

Alexandre Enkerli (alexandre.enkerli@IMM.UNIL.CH)
Wed, 19 Oct 1994 09:55:24 +0100

This issue is becoming very important on the list and I think it should be
made clear what we have here.
I was a bit surprised by the way the AA discussion ended, especially since
it was becoming a real discussion about sub-disciplines of anthropology.
But basicaly, the list, without being moderated, should obey some rules to
let free discussion on relevant subjects appear.
I was surprised some months ago,when some flame wars were going on and some
people were complaining, about the fact that no one tried to stop it. Just
surprised.
But now that we speak of this book ad that was sent to anthro-l, the issue
doesn't look like censorship to me but as plain and simple netiquette.
People have the right to tell Mr Rushton what he should have done with his
posting and also have the right to say what they think about it's content.
Furthermore, Mr Rushton didn't send a message to discuss about his book,
AFAIK. It's more in the form of "*I* did this, *I* wrote this, *I* am
telling the truth, *I* know best..." IMVH(AWISHIMVVVH)O
I do believe that free speech is one of our basic rights. I also think
that some messages prevent true discussions to appear.
Some people have been complaining, a while ago, about the lack of "true
discussion" on anthro-l. An obvious answer was "well, then, start one!".
But the truth is, some people wouldn't post about anything that matters to
them by fear of flames, mis-understandings, etc.
I might be wrong about this so, comments welcomed and so on...

Alexandre Enkerli aenkerli@imm.unil.ch (Unil-LAIP Lausanne) ___________
enkerlia@ere.umontreal.ca (UdeM Dept. d'Anthropologie Montreal) ____ ____
"Doue d'une naivete permanente, il vivait plus que les autres."
___ o ___
Boris Vian /Une penible histoire/ in _Le loup-garou_ (1970:126) __ o o __