-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -= purpose in. publicizing it; censorship in uk.* newsgroups -= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The postings to uk.misc newsgroup generated a very defensive reaction. from Usenet. readers in the UK. So much so, that they tried strenuously to suppress what was being said, both. by breaking the rules of netiquette in their responses on the forum, and directly by action to revoke. the account from which the. postings were issued. Yet the postings. were within the normal boundaries of behaviour for uk.misc, and other less partisan. spectators did not see justice in the censorship which was effected, as the following. excerpt shows; :Karen Lofstrom ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). wrote :>It. does seem that the frequency and the size of his posts are :>approaching net. abuse. However, IMHO, they aren't quite there yet. If :>his postmaster. were to act in this instance, it would raise troubling :>censorship. issues. The inescapable conclusion of the censorship. effected on the uk.* newsgroups is. that the British are intent on their wrongdoing remaining concealed, and therefore seek to. subvert and suppress freedom of speech, not only in their. own country where the media shows xenophobic bias and bile against all perceived. enemies within and without, but also in other countries which. have their own statutes to guarantee the basic human right of. free speech. It is absolutely necessary to bring their hate. campaign out into the open where it can be placed under scrutiny. and the harassers seen for what they are. That is the only way. of making it impossible for the security services to carry it out. There is a wider dimension, though. Xenophobia. as demonstrated by British people and institutions over the. last few years belongs to the same stable. as racial hatred. In one case, two youths on a Tube train. made that racism explicit by referring to their victim as a "soft toy, not up to. British Standards". Doubtless others victimize partly on the basis of race (isnt it odd. that they chose to torment someone who is not ethnically English?) while expressing their abuse in. terms of another genetic attribute, namely mental illness. All xenophobia. on a genetic basis is wrong, but while racial insults are. illegal, abusing the mentally ill is neither against the. law nor subject to similar condemnation when. it is exposed. 6143
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