It is human nature to do certain things when presented with a new idea, especially one we disagree with. We may disbelieve and dismiss it. We may use our intelligence to discuss it. Or we may attack the person who presented this idea for whatever reason. Its the last response that worries me. The majority of us live in these United States where we are guaranteed free speech. Many others who post here live in countries whose own laws are modeled after the original American Bill of Rights because its ideas are essential to any free society. By personally attacking someone for sharing an idea you may not agree with or find humorous altogether, aren't you discouraging them from free spech? In effect aren't you siding with the oppresive governments that pick and choose whose opinion is valid and whose voice should be heard? I am not claiming to be innocent of that but it was only recently brought to my attention. I bring all this up because I have a friend in Hong Kong I email back and forth with. The Chinese are ready to take over and his biggest fear is that loss of free speech when they do. Today he made the comment that for as much as we Americans tout our rights and are ready to send our young men and women around the world to die for those ideals, the majority of us have no respect for the gift of free speech and one another when exercising it. He pointed out several examples of where we demand or exercise certain rights even though they may infringe on the rights of others. Then later I find out about a company called "ReadNotify.com" that tracks email (my internet stalker used it). When a subscriber sends an email using their service, they use a number of methods to gather personal information about email's reciever. They then share that info with the subscriber who initiated the email. The reciever never even knows and the implications are astounding. A employee who sends an anonymous email can be busted simply by opening the reply. A stalker can find the object of his sick desire simply by sending her an email greeting card. A psycho can use their service to send a threatening email that self destructs before the police can see it. So my question is this. Have we as Americans become so demanding of our rights and expectations that we trample those of others?
Trample the rights of others? Well I guess that would depend on just what those "others" are doing. If the others are involved with terrorist activities or the destruction of America then I would say that intelligence gathering is all well and good to thwart an advisary in trying to attack America. If the person that is being watched isn't doing anything illegal or criminal in nature then why bother to check them out. Sometimes there are times when the boundries are crossed because no one knows who's doing what and therefore everyone is subject to scrutiny. That's where I think that the government steps over the fine line and commits illegal acts itself in order to find out who the "bad " people are.
