Re: Flame Wars

>
>For example, theoretically, I could enter a diner, sit at the counter, and
>begin hurling insults at total strangers (or better yet, just start swearing
>random curse words at no one in particular). I of course have a
>"constitutional right" to do so. But can the other individuals in the diner
>simply "choose" not to hear my cursing?  
>
>No, they can't. The patrons of the diner can't help but be exposed to the
>vitriol -- you can't turn off your eardrums. The diner is a public place --
>a public 'forum', so to speak -- just as this Who-list is. And when
>individuals are in a public place, they are expected to exercise
>self-control and courtesy. 
A few comments and questions about the above statement:

1. Is this diner one of those 50's retro things or just a neighborhood
diner and how many does it seat?

2. What is the special of the day? Do they have the infamous 
"blue plate special" that's always served on a green plate?

3. I was once exposed to vitriol and had to use a medicated balm for 3
weeks. I never went out with that girl again!
>
>It's analogous to young college kids making public spectacles of themselves
>by burning a flag. I personally don't give a shit whether someone burns a
>flag or not. And I personally would be the first in line to defend that
>person's right were the government to forcibly censure the act. But why do
>it in the first place, except to antagonize others for no apparent reason
A comment on the above statement:

1. Many of the flags made today are of a polyester type material and
burning them would probably not make much of a statement except that
polyester melts and stinks real bad when you burn it. I know this
because I burnt a pair of polyester slacks smoking a joint in the
early 80's. Boy did that stink, burnt the hell outa my leg too!

>I could, for example, decide to walk out to my front lawn with a picture of
>Christ, and begin burning it in front of my Christian neighbors. But what is
>the point of doing this in the first place?! I'm not a Christian, so that
>means it is useful or constructive for me to deliberately try to antagonize
>my neighbors' moral beliefs? 
A question about the above statement:

Is this one of those crushed velvet pictures of Christ? I think that
one of those would probably stink pretty bad too.
>
>Finding something (under First Amendment protection) to say or do simply to
>piss somebody off doesn't make you a martyr, it makes you an asshole. 
>
>David Thirteen
>http://www.the-spa.com/thirteen
>
>

Is your last name really Thirteen? That's a number.

Scott
In a little house I keep pictures suspended, it is not a fixed house,
It is round, it is only a few inches from one side to the other:
Yet behold, it has room for all the shows of the world, all memories!
Here the tableaus of life, and here the groupings of death;
Here, do you know this? this is cicerone himself,
With finger rais'd he points to the prodigal pictures.

Walt Whitman