From: mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner)
Newsgroups: alt.personals
Subject: Re: alt.personals and enforced monogomy
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:11:54 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.005650.10741@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>, cd975@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Daniel K. Holmes) writes:
> 
> 
> In a previous article, mike_steiner@qm.claris.com (Mike Steiner) says:
> 
> >
> >Let's put this into perspective.  there were a number of people moralizing
> >about Darryl's service and calling it discriminatory and telling him that
> >he should change his policies or shut it down.  His policies are not 
> >discriminatory; they do not preclude anyone from using this newsgroup.
>
> Let's stop here for a second. Darryl's SERVICE is discriminatory. His policies
> are discriminatory. I think you are confused. Darryl does not run 
> Alt.Personals. I think that is where the problem came from. Darryl only runs
> the anonymous service, which is, by your own admission later in this post,
> discriminatory.

No, it is not discriminatory; it is selective.  I know that he runs the anon
service and not alt.personals.  If he ran alt.personals and ran it the way he
runs his anon service, I'd be in the forefront of those trying to get rid of
his policies.

> >When he answered them, they came down upon him with righteous indignation and
> >abuse, while portraying themselves as the defenders of goodness and light.
> 
> So you are saying that discrimination is a good thing.

Nope.  I'm saying that there is nothing wrong with being selective.

> >I
> >got sick of this sanctimony and tried to point out to them that they were
> >guilty of the very things that they were accusing Darryl of being. 
> 
> How is that. By saying that his service is discriminatory, they are 
> discriminatory?

By trying to force their morality on him, they are being hypocritical.  He
wasn't forcing his morality on them, yet they had no compunction about
saying that he did--in other words, they were lying.
 
>  That, in
> >turn, got me flamed--so, I started flaming back. 
> 
> Yes, because, I believe, you are or were misinformed.

I was not, and am not, misinformed about this matter.

> >BTW, I don't post anything anonymously now; Darryl won't let me--because,
>                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ...... I am married.
>        ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Please define this for me. What if you, or primarily your wife, wanted to 
> post anonymously just to talk with someone, without the bother of having her
> e-mail address posted. Darryl DECIDES that this is not possible because
> she is married. What now.....there is no other service, so she doesn't post.
> You basically ended the arguement with the admission that you, too, are being
> discriminated against.

What if Darryl's service didn't exist?  alt.personals did not have any anon
service for few weeks (perhaps even a month) before Darryl opened his anon
service.

Darryl defined the terms of his service, and some people don't like it, so they
are trying to force him to change his service to their liking.  I don't like the
way that he runs his service, but I recognize that he has the right to run it
the way that he wants.

Similarly, some people don't like the fact that women can get abortions in this
country and they try to force abortion services out of business and to bully
women into not getting abortions.  I'm not a woman, and I can't get an abortion,
or even into a position where I would have to consider one.  However, I fully
support womens' rights to abortions, if they so choose to have them.  I've
marched in pro-choice demonstrations for this reason.  Similarly, I have chosen
not to own a firearm, but I support the rights of people who want to own them.
Also, similarly, i support the rights of people to take whatever drugs they want
and advocate that the current drug laws be revoked and drugs be decriminalized.

It is all the same; it is a matter of rights.  A woman's right to choose what to
do with her body; a person's right to choose to own a firearm; a person's right
to damage his/her body with drugs; Darryl's right to provide an anon service for
those people for whom he wants to provide it.