[ossig] freedom of speech - some animals are more equal than others?

["Manimohan" <mani@apiit.edu.my>]

Hi,

I am reminded of an old joke which I 'loosely' quote here :

" An American and a Russian are arguing over freedom of expression. The American says, "In America we have true freedom of speech, anybody can go in front of the White House grounds, for example, and shout, "President Nixon is an idiot!" and nothing would happen to him". Now that's freedom of speech etc etc. 
To which the Russian says, "what's so great about that, we have the same freedom of speech in Russia as well!" Now, the American is obviously flabbergasted, not to mention totally incredulous and questions this. The Russian is firm about his stand and says, if you like we can test it anytime, anybody can go right in front of the Kremlin and shout, "President Nixon is an idiot!" and nothing would happen to him!".

That seems to be the kind of freedom of expression that is now 'allowed' in the US, and IMHO,  unlike the joke, which, when it first made the rounds when I was in school, is not funny at all! So now, you are 'free' to express what is 'acceptable' to those who carry the biggest  sticks.

regards

Mani

-----Original Message-----
From: Dinesh Nair [mailto:dinesh@alphaque.com]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 3:08 PM
To: ossig@mncc.com.my
Subject: Re: [ossig] DARPA cuts funding for OpenBSD project due to
anti-war statement



On 28 Apr 2003, Christopher DeMarco wrote:

> And what's wrong with me kicking you out of my house when you criticize
> my cooking for the Nth time after I've explicitly made it known that I
> wouldn't put up with it?

nothing wrong with that. here i was referring to the US constitutional
right to free speech, which they didn't seem to practice here,
jurisdiction notwithstanding.

Regards,                           /\_/\   "All dogs go to heaven."
dinesh@alphaque.com                (0 0)    http://www.alphaque.com/
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