January 29 1998

January 29 1998

Thoughts on Freedom

Last week, I was directed to a posting on a chatsite by one of my slaves, who enjoys reading the views and opinions on the site. The posting, although seemingly well intentioned, has some deeper ramifications involved, which hopefully more will understand. I have omitted the name of the person who posted the following, and also the e-mail address where these "votes" can be cast, by my own choice.

Dear net citizens,

Subject: Nazi-groups on the net.

There are Nazigroups trying to open newsgroups on the Internet under the name "White Power". As you might know the only thing that counts on Internet is who you are no matter where your from or what background you may have. It's important that these groups cannot grow due to the power of Internet.

*YOU* can do alot to avoid thuse newsgroups to open up. To open a newsgroup there has to be an elecronic votation and here's when your 'NO' counts!

IMPORTANT! ---> ONLY VOTE ONCE!

Only one vote per e-mail account or your vote will not count. The newsgroup is named: 'xxxxxxx.whith-power' and here's how you do:

1. Send this message to everyone you know with e-mail accounts so that they can vote as well. 2. Send your vote to: [email protected] Leave the 'Subject' field blank, but copy:

I vote NO on xxxxxxx.white-power

and paste in the mail.

Note: The votes are counted automatically so it's very important that you follow the above instructions:

* Only vote once. * Only use the e-mail account above. * Leave 'Subject' blank. * Just put your vote in the message. * Nothing else, not even your name.

On the surface the posting does indeed seem to be well intended. I am also of the opinion that such hate groups truly have no place among us. However, if we look a bit deeper into this, we see that there is something far more frightening at work here. That is an infringement on the First Amendment of our constitution: Freedom of speech. It seems there is actually a place that you can "vote" to have a particular group of people's right to free speech removed. Think about this for a moment...

Dear net citizens,

Subject: Gorean-groups on the net.

There are Goreangroups trying to open newsgroups and websites and IRC channels on the Internet under the name "Lifestyles". As you might know the only thing that counts on Internet is who you are no matter where your from or what background you may have. It's important that these groups cannot grow due to the power of Internet.

*YOU* can do alot to avoid these Lifestyles to open up. To open a newsgroup there has to be an elecronic votation and here's when your 'NO' counts!

IMPORTANT! ---> ONLY VOTE ONCE!

Only one vote per e-mail account or your vote will not count. The newsgroup is named: 'Goreans.lifestyles' and here's how you do:

1. Send this message to everyone you know with e-mail accounts so that they can vote as well. 2. Send your vote to: [email protected] Leave the 'Subject' field blank, but copy:

I vote NO on Goreans.lifestyles

and paste in the mail.

Note: The votes are counted automatically so it's very important that you follow the above instructions:

* Only vote once. * Only use the e-mail account above. * Leave 'Subject' blank. * Just put your vote in the message. * Nothing else, not even your name.

To further the thought, I will say that this posting was found on a BDSM/Gorean corkboard. Now, do any of you have any idea how many people out there are AGAINST such things as the BDSM and Gorean lifestyles? I would venture to say that we are truly a minority. What is to happen if someone finally gets a wild hair up their ass, and decides that they do not think that such lifestyles as our own are not "proper" material for the internet? (see above) Ok, so now we have a new vote counter, and let's say it is posted on a very highly hit Christian (only an example) website, and WE are suddenly finding ourselves without anywhere to communicate on the web. What then? Will we feel that we suddenly have had our right to free speech suddenly torn from our throats?

Perhaps you are saying by now that I do not make a valid comparison, because Nazi groups are truly non-consentually violent and hateful, and BDSM and Gorean beliefs are based on consentuality. The comparison is truly not the point. The point is when we think of such institutions as the one which houses this "vote counter", we must realize that they are hardly biased in anyone's favor, except those who would have the power to choose for us, what we will, and will not do. Such institutions have only one goal, and that is "political correctness" for the masses regardless of whether we want it or not. I think about the term "politically correct", and I see how wonderfully it has been ingrained into many people through medias which in the past 30 or 40 years have sought to promote, and encourage "big government".

Little by little, frightened sheep, like the one that posted that tear-jerking letter to encourage you to vote against the First Amendment, have given up their freedoms (and ours) for a little taste of "safety"... a false sense that they are now secure from the demons of mankind, and that Big Brother will take care of us. Obviously, such people have no idea, no true understanding that with each and every "No" vote recieved on that counter, a large, grossly overbloated government smiles, and it rubs it's hands together in anticipation, thinking of the day it will suddenly remove ALL rights that IT does not see fit to allow us.

Expanding upon the thought...

What we started with, was a declaration to a totalitarian, overly taxating England, defining our rights and expectations as free men. A war was fought over those words written. A great many men and women shed blood for what they thought was right. They believed, and rightly so, that a man should be able to walk his own path, and live his own life, according to the rights of a human being, granted by God, as long as his path was not harmful to another's. This is called "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Ring a bell? Well, if it doesn't, then you truly need to reasearch that seemingly long forgotten document that our country was founded on.

Looking back across the past 220 some years since it's inception, we will see the steady growth of a government, and the steady decrease in our freedoms, because this government has taken upon itself the right to decide what is best for us. Slowly abut surely, we have become less free to do with our lives than our forefathers. We have become their worst nightmare, we have become "not free". We are ruled, we are subjects, we have little choice in the matter of lifestyle we choose to live in the public's eye. We have little to say about how we will raise, and educate our children. Someone knows better than us these things now. It is truly sickening, and disheartening to realize this is indeed the truth of our time.

It is unfortunate that most people cannot understand that the men that drafted the Constitution of the United States, had a great many built in safety measures to insure that the totalitarian rule that they once lived under, and fought and died to free themselves from, would never return. Well, like it or not, it is upon us, in the forms of heavy taxation, overburdening laws in the name of "protection", and a society that is pretty much converted to socialism. The masses have decisions made for them now. It is decided by Big Brother how we will spend a certain amount of our hard earned income, whether we choose to spend it our not. It is quite clear that what is sought by this monster among us, is a simple working class, and a ruling class. So I ask you, are we free?

A very wise man once wrote "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants". Do you recognize that quote? I think perhaps some will, and most will not. That is a quote from a letter written by one Thomas Jefferson in 1787. What does it mean? When it was written, as I said before, these men who drafted the Constitution, had very legitimate fears of government becoming what it is today. I believe, as do a great many others, that it is inevitable that the blood of freemen be spent to insure that our freedoms are never infringed upon, and that the blood of tyrants (quite possibly translated into "legislators and select presidents") must also be shed as a reminder against tyranny, and to keep the tree blossoming.

Is there still hope against such a "refreshing" mentioned above? Perhaps... but I think it would require a major redirection of thinking on the part of those people among us who are capable of casting "votes". I think it important that people look VERY closely at what, and who they decide to vote for, or against. I believe that we men and women can learn a great deal about what we have lost, if we only take the time to read about what we had.

What does all of this have to do with the Gorean Community? Think about it. Think about those things that we Goreans hold true, like freedom. I would venture to say that most of us would be quite happy living "outside" of this utter monster of a society we(?) have allowed to grow. Are we irresponsible for wishing to be "apart" from society? I think we are not. I think we are simply a group of people who WILL decide our own destiny, and have it in our minds to pursue our own life, liberty, and happiness. It is, after all, our right to do so... isn't it?

I wish you well

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