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  • From: James Dasher <jdasher AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: "Internetworkers:http"@metalab.unc.edu://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/ <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
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  • Subject: Fwd: [internetworkers] swift boats ain't nothing
  • Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 09:34:41 -0400

On Sep 10, 2004, at 11:59 PM, Joe Komenda wrote:

Oh, that's nothing. Here's some inflammatory stuff:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/atrios/jesusbush.jpg

Inflammatory, sure. But, like the Washington/Paddle Boat Veterans For Truth thing, funny - after a fashion.

Coming from Atrios, it's a little less funny, because he's pretty intolerant of Christians. I don't see him posting something like that at Muslims' expense. Also, I don't see Atrios (whose blog I read somewhat regularly) being able to engage in a debate about 'jus ad bellum' vs. 'jus in bellum', or the Thomistic arguments for and against the use of force. (The Scholastics crafted most of the philosophical arguments that, 700 years later, were codified as the Geneva Conventions.) But that's neither here nor there.

The real point I think this thread brings up is that people should have the right to make these ads, regardless of political affiliation. And make no mistake: both efforts posted to this thread required time, resources, and effort (money), and are designed to persuade. But should the people behind them be allowed to say these things? And what are the connections to the presidential campaigns? I'll bet the degrees of separation aren't than wide.

Look, if George Soros wants to give $10 million to MoveOn.org, or former MoveOn.org execs want to work for the Kerry campaign, who cares? And if a couple-hundred Swift Boat vets want to raise half a million dollars to run ads criticizing Kerry, or a lawyer for the Bush team wants to give legal advice to them, again: who cares?

So the Jesus-Bush thing was posted to the Web. It wouldn't take much more effort to make a 30-second commercial out of the images. And if somebody wanted to buy advertising time in, say, Lizard Lick, NC (or Raleigh) -- should we really be passing laws telling people that their opinions don't matter? That they're not allowed to buy time, because they're not rich enough to be a candidate for President of the United States?

Say what you will about McCain-Feingold, or John Kerry, or George Bush, or Atrios -- but then, that's the point. At least, that would be the point, if the First Amendment mattered more than the misguided faith of true believers that people who disagree with them shouldn't be allowed to participate in the free exchange of ideas.

Me, I say, to echo both George Bush and John Kerry: "Bring it on!"

Cheers, peeps!





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