From: Secret Squirrel <nobody@secret.squirrel.owl.de>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 14:18:43 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Br'er Tim and the Bug Hole
Message-ID: <1f6c13f75e895afd9ec8f5d61ed19ff9@squirrel>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Robert Hettinga wrote:
>Meaning of course, when Patrick Henry... --- Oops, Thomas Paine, sorry,
>transposed my patriots there -- first stood up to be counted, he did it with
>a pseudonym.

Think how difficult it must have been to publish a pseudonymous writing back
in their day.  And compare how easy it is now.  With a basic Internet
connection and some software I can post this message under the name Nerthus,
and anyone who took the time to save my public key in their keyring can
verify with almost complete certainty that "Nerthus" wrote this.

But as we progress on some fronts, we digress on others.  The tools which
can empower the individual are readily available, but the individual is
quickly becoming an automaton, a shell of the man he used to be.

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, 
or give me death." -- Patrick Henry

What is life without liberty?  Abject slavery.  Any sane man would rather
die than be a slave.  But what is this slavery?

It is the state in which we live our lives.  More often than not, our
oppressors are our own selves: our fears, our imaginings, our hatred.

Everyone does this: the "right-wing-gun-nut" who detests the actions of
the BATF, the Christian zealot who detests the pro-abortion crusaders/
Zoroastrians/creationists/NWO types, the IRS agent who detests the "tax
protestors", the treehugger who detests the corporate greed/profit
machine that is destroying the planet... I could go on but I think you
get my point.

Injustice happens everyday.  The next time you find yourself at Burger
King stuffing yourself with greasy slop, think of the millions of people
in Africa who are slowly starving to death.  Injustice, yes, but what
are you going to do about it?  Anything?

The fact is you can't do anything, even if you wanted to.  And because
of that we all become reactionary, angered, resentful, violent.  We
perpetuate the disintegration of mankind, of ourselves.

No people in their right mind should bow down and lick the boots of their
oppressors.  But neither should they kill them either.  The intelligent
action is to show the oppressors the errors in their ways.  Every human 
being, even our "enemies" have a mind that is not completely devoid of
reason.  The sooner we show them a better way of living, the sooner we can 
move toward it.  Then the possibility for an end to the injustices that
surround us becomes more available.

I leave you with a quote to ponder:

"My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

Any idea who the pinko-liberal, NWO cocksucker was that said this?

It was Thomas Paine in his book "Rights of Man".

Nerthus

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