Alex In Wonderland

Good challenge, Alex. I'll have to work on this...

And thank you for the kind words. I hope to meet you both, and soon.

Actually, I'm wondering if the topic here is actually freedom of speech, or whether (or to what degree) you should allow peer pressure to affect how you express your opinions?

Surely it is both things.

The point is this: if you have the right to Freedom of Speech and then for whatever reasons are pressured into not using that right, then surely it is pointless to have it. Governments are forever attempting to limit what constitutes "Freedom of Speech" as are individuals - they just go about it in different ways.

If you need an example then here: The right to Freedom of Speech for me constitutes the right to express my opinion without fear of reprisal. Sure I want people to discuss, disagree, agree, whatever but I don't want shouting at, being called names, having my person or fmaily threatened etc.

The other part of the topic is simple: You don't think that governments are subjected to peer pressure too? Both externally and internally they are subject to pressure from individuals, organisations, etc. How they react to this pressure has potentially life changing consequences for us as individuals. If you look at how it is done you very rarely see someone standing up and going "that congressman/senator/MP is a f***ing idiot and I am going to kill him/firebomb his house/etc for saying that" but if you, as an individual Harvey, expressed these opinions you would be ridiculed, threatened, etc therefore curtailing your right to free speech.

This is what I get for not "clicking through" in awhile... Freedom of speech is an all encompassing ideal. It allows for freedom of opinion. That's a very powerful thing, in that it allows you to express yourself in the purist way that you can muster.

Sure, others may brow beat you for what you believe, but that's all part of the discussion. How you react to it is tantamount to your committment to your convictions. How you respond is a testament to your character.

In the end, your opinions are yours... they can be changed through polite discussion, but never bullied into another's point of view.

You and I have had a few "rows", but you have remained on my sidebar as a reminder that my opinion is not the only one in the world that's worth something. I can indeed learn from someone who hasn't been in my shoes, but has been in many other's.

Thanks for this post, as it gives me reason to encourage your beloved. Her stories of family life give me hope to have a similar situation myself. That's not nothin'... Not even close to it.

I did a post on Freedome of Speech not that long ago. The whole point of it was: You have the right to voice your oppinion, and those that disagree have the right to voice theirs as well.

I get trolls and e-mails.. especially on my anti-environment stance. I, however, refuse to e-mail a blogger that has decided to quit to try to convince them differently. That is a decision that is personal to them. I don't push for reasons, it may be personal (family issues) it could be more complex. Never the less, I will still leave a comment saying, I don't want them to leave.

Contagion not being pushy?

Damn... that's just WEIRD! :-D

Harvey, nobody loves you. You're going to die old and alone! :)

NOT TRUE! I will be quite young, and TNT will be standing right beside me when I die, holding a smoking gun :-)

Alex - when I read Sally's post on quitting blogging (which I must admit I only got to yesterday because my blogging is so backed up from the move!) - I had no idea WHY she wanted to stop blogging. This puts her blog friends in a difficult position...

- it could be because your daughter has been having medical problems she doesn't want to share with the world, or she's been overwhelmed and doesn't have the energy to continue...

-- it could be that she's got so much to do outside of blogging that she just can't contemplate continuing at the moment.

-- it could be that there are other personal problems that your family needs to work through at the moment and not being able to blog them is worse than just not blogging at all...

As you can see - it never occurred to me that she was getting hate mail. And under any of the above conditions and a miriad of others... it seems very selfish to urge her to continue to blog, much as we love her.

If I had known it was because of hate mail, you can be sure I would be saying something more along the lines of "please please don't give up because of THOSE morons!" I'll get over to her place in a bit (yeah I'm trying to actually work right now) and leave a different sort of comment than my earlier one!!!

What Teresa said. It never occured to me either. I thought it was everything else.

I occasionally put a post that is political, with a caveat that says, "This is my opinion, my blog, I can say what I want. It's not up for debate." But I've not gotten hate mail.

Then again... I've never blogged that I'm pro-choice and I think Creationism is bunk. Those are some hot button topics that some people can get real whacked over. Unfortunately. They are topics that some people cannot say, "Hey, they're entitled to their opinion", instead it they become hateful and rude.

And it is unfortunate if Sally was the recipient of any of this because nobody deserves it, especially not Sally who was one of the most brilliant and witty women I have ever met.