[ExI] intolerant minds, a different flavor.

[John K Clark]

Lee wrote:

>> behavior is one thing. The mere voicing of ideas another.

Damien wrote:

> The core problem in this dispute seems to be your (and some others')
> adherence to this claim.

The obvious objective way to distinguish between the two is to say that
voicing an idea is anything that can be sent over a wire and behavior is
everything else. I admit that someday this little test may be insufficient,
be we'll worry about that after the singularity.

Damien again:

> Voicing an idea *is* a behavior

If you're right and the two should be treated identically then we would not
have a limitation of freedom of the press, we would have the complete
extinction of it. And the justification of the censorship would be the same
as it always has been, the same as it was during the inquisition; namely an
unproven theory that if people receive certain information they will believe
in things that you personally don't like.

Of course in one way this entire matter is of academic interest only because
with today's technology there is not a snowball's chance in hell of stopping
ideas from going where they want to go; however the futile attempts to ban
unapproved speech is not academic because it would have a very real
corrosive effect on any civilization.

 John K Clark