DaveNet: Saturday, June 28, 1997; by Dave Winer.

Steve Johnson on Free Speech

From Steve Johnson, sjohnson@usa.net, re E Pluribus Unum:

Dave, you write eloquently about the evils of CDA and the glory of free speech. But Americans don't want free speech... at least not for everyone. Pro-choice folks don't want the pro-child people to be heard and vice versa; Atheists versus various flavors of believers, PC versus Macintosh. This type of conflict permeates the society.

We all want to protect our own right to free speech but would prefer that those we fear could be kept quiet.

Too often, we in the "wired" community seem to believe that "everyone believes in free speech." But as with term limits (which attempts to restrict not us but others, ie., let's restrict North Carolina's ability to keep electing Jesse Helms but not Massachusetts' ability to reelect Ted Kennedy) not everyone likes the free access to freedoms that we champion.

It's not about *your* freedom of speech; it's about *my* freedom of speech.

Steve's website is http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/.