[pf] Re: community and expression

At 21:21 16/09/99 -0500, Betsy Barnum wrote:
>> Do participants in this discussion have any obligation to each other or
to the
>> group as a whole, or is the individual right to freedom of expression
the only
>> thing that is inviolable?
>
At 17:54 27/09/99 -0500, Betsy Barnum wrote:
>How people feel about the degree of intimacy that there is in this group
surely
>varies greatly. It seems to me that when people talk from the heart, or let
>themselves be vulnerable, everyone has an obligation to listen 
>respectfully 
>and not to respond in an unkind or thoughtless way. ...


** I got no reaction to these two points earlier, so I hope to get some now.

At 17:37 17/09/99 +1200, David M. wrote:
> [Point 1.]
>**  This 'balance' between the rights of the individual and the welfare of
>the group/society has a very long history, of which I know little. One
>thing I 'know' (though it could well be wrong) is that there was originally
>a major distinction between French and English law, in that the Napoleonic
>original of French law put the needs of the State well above individual
>rights, which I interpreted to mean that when the Public Prosecutor took a
>case against you, you had to prove they were wrong. In contrast to Common
>Law which (i) is a dynamic thing largely created by earlier decisions on
>the merits of each case, and (ii) assumes that you're innocent until proven
>guilty. That is, I have had a high regard for English law _because_of_ its
>elevation of the rights of the individual above the requirements of the
State.

> [Point 2.]
>**  To throw in a red herring: the right to bear arms is specifically so
>that a _body_of_men_ (with the guns they bring from home), under a local
>leader, can act as a militia (minute-men) and resist the State's unjust
>oppression.
>    Have I got that right? And is it taught that way in schools these days?
>

** Anyway, back to 'community and expression'. To me, the answer is always
grey.
> ...
>    A dynamic tension between individual wishes and conforming to the
general consensus. 

David.
(David MacClement) d1v9d @ bigfoot.com (remove spaces)
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html#top
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