From owner-freebsd-chat Fri Jul 25 22:17:05 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id WAA14687 for chat-outgoing; Fri, 25 Jul 1997 22:17:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: from time.cdrom.com (root@time.cdrom.com [204.216.27.226]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id WAA14681; Fri, 25 Jul 1997 22:17:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from time.cdrom.com (jkh@localhost.cdrom.com [127.0.0.1]) by time.cdrom.com (8.8.6/8.6.9) with ESMTP id WAA20800; Fri, 25 Jul 1997 22:16:32 -0700 (PDT) To: ML Duke cc: "Jonathan M. Bresler" , Michael Smith , chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FTC regulating use of registrations In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 25 Jul 1997 20:22:23 -0800." <33D97B7E.D1648961@resumes-by-duke.com> Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 22:16:32 -0700 Message-ID: <20796.869894192@time.cdrom.com> From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > I found your response difficult to believe, which is to say it > challenged my imagination to actuallypicture someone in my mind who > could say it. The point should be self-evident, but I'll try. I think you must have been one of those unfortunates born sarcasm-impaired, but since you've chosen to take me so seriously I guess I'll respond to a few of your points, some of which I find to be almost stunningly naieve. > What is it that you like to do, want to do or enjoy doing that, were one > special interest group or another were to manage to have a law passed > against it, (the point of the gun) that it would cause you distress? Just about everything, but then I see law not as a some benign force, set about purely and altruistically by others for our own good, but rather as the feudal contract between the serf and his current overlord. Oh, we've santized and homogenized the whole process of enforcing a power structure to the point where some deluded fools actually think they control the process, but it's not about that at all. Mankind is a wolfpack society, and there's always a hierarchy of dominance and submission involved. So though my remarks about forcing people around at gunpoint were sarcastic, they're hardly something which I have deep moral feelings about. There will always be someone out there who will try to stick a gun to my head if they think it will further their aims and, should the situation truly warrant it, it's not a tactic I'd eschew myself. What defines us as human beings is our judgement about what does and does not warrant the use of that kind of force, not some arbitrary moral line drawn in the sand which you try to get everyone in society to stand only on one side of (usually, and oh-so-conveniently, allowing the line-drawer the sole privilege of occupying either side at will). > The above are in keeping with the natural goodness of our natures, not There is no natural goodness to human nature - that is purely learned behavior. :-) Jordan