From: "Attila T. Hun" <attila@hun.org>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 00:43:57 +0800
To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net>
Subject: the usual two sided mouth political free speech
Message-ID: <3454C2E9.1AD@hun.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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    the usual two sided mouth political free speech
    in re: NYTimes letter to the editor, 26 Oct 97

    sometimes I wonder if free speech isn't already muffled;
    the rest of the time I know it is. anytime a politician
    can get a headline, they will stamp on someone's rights.
    common sense has been exerminated more effectively than
    NYC's vermin.

    I dont like my kids being exposed to that "kind" of 
    material, but I would sure rather it was done in an 
    educational environment (unless it is some faggot teacher 
    then advocating homosexual practice). children will find
    that "knowledge" one way or the other.

    You can not condemn "evil" without observing "evil" and 
    making a _personal_ value judgement which should not be
    reflected in calling for laws for or against.  If the adults
    would stop acting like 6 year olds, and the politicians as 4
    year old bullies, our children might get an education.

    OB Crypto:  maybe the teacher should be distributing this
    material on PGP with individual student keys; the teacher
    can sort out the Christian Coalition and Orthodox Jews early
    on and just forget to include their key --end of problem. So 
    there is a valid use for PGP in the schools --of course, the 
    old PGP, not their GAKed sellout.

To the Editor:

Gov.  George E. Pataki's comments regarding Charles Self, the
New York City schoolteacher who distributed a sexually explicit
poem to his students, were transparently political (news
article, Oct.  23).

First, the Governor disassociated himself from ruling on the
matter ("the appropriate sanction is not something for Albany to
decide"), and then jabbed the system that must rule on it ("I
think a letter in a file is not good enough").  It would have
been better to remain silent.

Second-best would have been to remind us of reality:  most
teachers are competent most of the time.  They occasionally make
errors in judgment.  Mr.  Self, reputedly a teacher who
motivates his students, made a mistake -- apparently the first
in 17 years to be placed on the record.

In such matters we ought to set aside the broad political brush
and work to rebuild the trusting relationship that teachers so
richly deserve to enjoy.  The Governor would do well to remember
that politicians are currently held in even lower esteem than
teachers.

GILBERT CASS New Haven, Oct.  24, 1997

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