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2/18/96, rukind@ix.netcom.com
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Lord Clinton and the Babelnet

by Kevin DancinBear

     Genesis:Chapter 11:6-7

     6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they all have
     one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be
     restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

     7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that
     they may not understand one another's speech.

     I was hesitant to use this analogy. Now is a time for solidarity
     and I don't wish to offend anyone. Bill Clinton is no God. But it
     was just too perfect. The powers that be feel a dire need to
     confound our language. We are to be trained by thirty second
     sound bites that flow in one direction, and feedback is
     non-existent.

     Communication is power. A two way flow of ideas allows for self
     expression. It makes you equal with others. You start to learn
     that ideas you previously conceived as being far from the
     mainstream are actually fairly commonly held by others. It makes
     your ideas worth a whole lot more, and you also come to value the
     ideas of others more.

     Yeah, we may tenaciously cling to personal beliefs and engage in
     flame wars rather than admit we were mistaken about something.
     Even in these times though, we have to listen to the opposing
     side of the argument and understand their position if we are to
     develop a well thought out response. The status quo is maintained
     through the power of money and subsequent control of the voices
     of the airwaves. A simple person with brilliant ideas could use
     this new medium to express herself, and if her ideas were sound
     they would be carried far and wide, so that without any campaign
     money, the whole country would understand her wisdom. If the
     media ignored her, it would only strengthen the belief that we
     are being duped by tyrranical wealth. Until they could ignore her
     no more, or she didn't even need them. This has to scare the hell
     out of the status quo.

     Yes, I said "her" for effect. She might be black, an overweight
     bald, spastic, lesbian, amputee for that matter. In here it is
     only the ideas that you convey that matter. Slick hairstyles
     don't count. This is true democracy. As so eloquently put by our
     hypocritical slave-owning forefathers. Perhaps they were'nt
     hypocrytical, just unable to change the world as fast as they
     would have liked. No matter, their dream is now on the brink of
     becoming a reality. Ironic then, that it is the heirs to their
     power who would seek to destroy it before it could become
     manifest.

     Free speech is the bedrock of everything we have been taught to
     believe in. You and I are not America, the president is not
     America. The flag is not America, the soil is not America. Only
     the Constitution is America. It is this document that keeps us
     free. The right to express yourself comes first on the list.
     Someone thought it was pretty damn important. You should too.
     Free speech, I am confident, will never cease, but if the battle
     to keep it is left to a few it is destined to become an arduous
     struggle that will cause hardship for many. It doesn't have to be
     that way. We can have a harmonious transition to a new age where
     "nothing will be restrained from us" and we will all "speak the
     same language". It will be the understanding that the things that
     seperate us are trivialities compared to the things that bond us.
     We will be able to work together to solve the problems of mankind
     by consensus, with true understanding of the needs of others.

     Isn't that worth a few minutes of your time?

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