Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tl00273)

At 01:55 PM 7/20/97 -0400, DSArthur@aol.com wrote:
>   I'd like to make a brief comment about some of the material contained in
>Digest 1139.  First off, as some of you have accurately stated, the Internet
>is perhaps the last bastion of relatively free literary expression.  I don't
>often make contributions to THEOS-L but, when I do, they invariably get
>printed ... and they don't get censored to avoid offending some (I won't
>mention any names) who subscribe to this list.  Yes, this firm policy has
>obviously driven some people away and I am certain that in the future it may
>well drive some others away.  On the other hand, start censoring the material
>and you will drive ME away.  As I've already said, I don't contribute very
>often but I do read virtually every post.  Some of them (I simply HAVE to
>resist the temptation to mention names) cause me to cringe in embarrassment
>(as in, "wow, I'm glad I don't talk that way").  Yet I am quite willing to
>pay the price of having to wade through some of that stuff ... in order to
>maintain the freedom of literary expression that exists on THEOS-L and,
>sadly, does not exist in very many other places.  For example, some time ago
>I sent a "letter to the editors" piece to The Plain Truth magazine
>disagreeing with a previous post by someone saying "Jesus Christ was not
>illegitimate."  I contended that, given the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, he
>would have to be --- after taking into account the assertions that Mary was
>his mother and The Holy Spirit (who was NOT married to Mary) was his father.
> For that is precisely what "illegitimate" means: born of unwed parents.  As
>you can easily guess, that was one "letter to the editor" that did NOT get
>published by Plain Truth magazine.  But look, it gets published HERE!  Now
>that's freedom of literary expression, folks.  It is very rare.  Treasure it.
>                      
>

I am very glad to see your comment.

The new medium of Internet is so unique and not amenable to
control/sensorship, and to many of us who have grown up in a
controlled/censored environment, it may be very uncomfortable. On the other
hand, when all of us are students trying to discover for ourselves what
Truth and Reality are, and where individual grows and flower, any kind of
constraint or control or censor is limiting. What we are now seeing is just
discussion of ideas and other information. When every man, woman and child
is connected to Internet, like what is planned in the UK, Internet is going
to shake many of the organizations to their roots, nothing like what we have
seen so far. In the present mode of communication using the print media
(controlled by the organization leadership) -- generally the official
magazine or periodical -- the leadership keeps the followers minimally
informed of only those that look good on them and hide those that do not.
Many times when difficult issues come up, these also tend to be used to
mislead or even misrepresent facts to the membership or followers. With
Internet of the future when everyone is wired, this is going to become next
to impossible thus putting a lot of pressure on the leadership. I hope we
all live to see the changes coming down the pike and the future is going to
be very exciting such as nothing we have seen so far.

My 2 cents worth. YMDMV.          ............MKRamadoss