[ExI] This is my last post to the Extropian List

[William Flynn Wallace]

Censoring books, banning books - signs of the apocalypse to me.  I wonder
about pornography.  Why is it obscene?  Why does obscenity get banned?
Yes, I know from teaching that the U.S. is a moderately repressive society
where sex is concerned, but just who is harmed and how?  Children.  Prove
to me that observing obscenities causes harm.  You cannot.  Europe and
especially Scandanavia have looser controls there and they have fewer
abortions, fewer sexual diseases, more use of birth control, and so on than
we do.  You can, I think, conclude that pornography has positive
educational value, which is probably a good thing because any kid can get
access to it, or his friend can.  Parents have always been too shy to talk
about sex except in a 'birds and bees' manner.  So now they are turning
over their parental responsibilities to the internet.  Good or bad, that's
the way it is.  Polls in my sex classes showed that most students wanted to
get their sex education from their parents.  How many of them did?  Very
few.  Irrational fears.  bill w

On Sat, Feb 6, 2021 at 12:22 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

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> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
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> >…One step further please.  Suppose one recognizes that the speaker is
> using a lot of specialized terminology and responds not at all, even if one
> thinks one knows what is meant.  Silence is interpreted as disagreement.
> Non-response is a negative response.  This is most disturbing, for if
> silence is violence, it cannot be allowed.  Orwell was right again.
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> >…bill w - I don't understand this paragraph.  Please expand (or unload
> as the current terminology says…
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> Unload: I wouldn’t be using that term anytime soon.  {8^D
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> An example of the notion that silence is violence: BLM mobs going down the
> street screaming at white outdoor diners “SAY HER NAME!”  at which time I
> might answer “whose name?” followed by “why?” both of which are interpreted
> as white supremacy.
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> Another example, in that capital riot, I didn’t post anything about it to
> Extropolis, which John interpreted as condoning it.  I had condemned the
> BLM riots, which (to me) are the same thing: people were attacking federal
> buildings.  Why does anyone need my commentary?  I did observe that
> creating doubt in the election process will escalate this kind of thing,
> and I still think that: regardless of what I personally think about that
> 2020 election and the January senate races, the process itself caused
> plenty of people to lose faith in the election process.
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> In the Extropolis discussion, I was accused of racism for calling out the
> BLM riots but not the DC riots.  But I never said anything about race in
> either instance.  It is hard to miss that plenty (in some cases perhaps
> most) BLM rioters are white.  But I didn’t post anything about that because
> I am embracing the notion that there is only one race, and anyone is free
> to choose one’s own ethnicity and culture, regardless of physical
> characteristics.
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> Back to the original comment: silence is violence.
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> In the case of the BLM riots, these were sometimes called “mostly
> peaceful” as stuff burned.  They were called a form of speech.  But at the
> same time, the actually peaceful people with their MAGA hats and signs were
> accused of violence to others’ sensibilities.  In that case, violence is
> speech and speech is violence.
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> >…I may have to go back and read my Orwell.  I read all that stuff in my
> 20s - time for a re-read.
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> Those are the magic words sir.  Plenty of people need to re-read Orwell.
> I noticed it has dropped off the required reading lists for high school
> literature classes, along with Bradbury’s 451F.
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> spike
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