From: cthong@fraser.sfu.ca (Christopher Thong)
Subject: Re: FREE 1-YEAR NRA... enough allready!!
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 19:43:14 GMT

veal@utkux1.utk.edu (David Veal) writes:

>In article <cthong.713768275@sfu.ca> cthong@fraser.sfu.ca (Christopher Thong) writes:

>>thank you for taking time off to explain things to me from an objective point 
>>of view. i see your point . laws would be difficult to enforce in an area like
>>that . but to ask a last question of you - what makes you think you aren't 
>>imposing YOUR points of view on others in YOUR country?

>     I am not imposing my views on anyone.  I have never once asked that
>others be required to own anything they don't want to own.

>>are you the majority?

>     The majority in the United States does not vote on other citizens
>rights.  The United States is a Republic, not a Democracy.

>>or just the vocal part of your country that wants to or isn't afraid to speak
>>up?

>     Somebody has to.

>>have you asked aLL your neighbours?

>     What my neighbors think is not the point.  Whether it be free speech,
>religion, or the right to keep and bear arms, my rights are not theirs to
>vote on or give away.
like i said david ... you don't care what your neighbours think do you.
you don't care about them do you? why is it that laws are always seen as
a negative when another way of looking at them is to figure that without
them we would all be a nation of REACT-ors rather than people who ACT before
an unfortunate event? apologies do very little to make up when it comes to 
the victims. you have your opinions . but your opinions must also be tempered
with a sense of responsibility and a realisation that like it or not , rights
or not , you are bound by ties of mutual responsibility to your fellow 
neighbour and any decision that has an adverse effect on them should be seriouslyy thought through and POSSIBLY altered or changed . rights guarantee you a greatt deal of liberty and power but from what i've seen and heard , americans have
yet to realise that they are responsible for seeing that their rights do not 
adversely affect the majority . 
>>for a country with freedom of speech , i find that any contrary opinions
>>here are more subject to branding of deviance than mine...
>>after all , that was part of the basis for McCarthyism weren't it ?

>     You are more than welcome to shout your opinions from any hilltop or
>USENET site that pleases you.  That is your right and I will not contest.
>Speaking as you will, however, does not protect you from having others speak
>as they will in return.  The right to tell others they are wrong goes hand in
>hand with the right of others to tell you *you* are wrong.

>     I have seen noone here suggest that you should not have a right to your
>own opinions.  What they have objected to is you wanting to force your
>opinions on what they may own on them.

>===========================================================================
>|David Veal  PA146008@utkvm1.utk.edu  University of Tennessee             |  
>|                                     Division of Continuing Education    |
>===========================================================================

Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns