"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing." (Edmund Burke) is the quote John Bibby was looking for. But much
more relevant is the better known quote that 'The price of liberty is
eternal vigilance'.
Vigilance in defence of free speech is not being displayed on the list just
now. There is in fact a tendency towards mob rule. There seems to be a
drift towards saying 'we don't like that person or those ideas so we are
going to attack that person and remove his messages' Shame on Radstats!
At the risk of being expelled, I'll post a copy of the message from Martin
Sewell that Alison has removed from the list.
It is the first occasion that I have witnessed of a message being removed
from the JISCmail system. It is sad that this has happened on the
Radstats list. It is misleading to suggest that this removal is consistent
with JISC guidelines. It is impossible to argue convincingly that the
removal of this message contributes to the support of freedom of speech.
But members of this list have not been able to make a judgement on this
matter because Alison removed the evidence of her misdemeanour.
The message Alison removed was a reasonable response by Martin Sewell to an
attack on him by Paul Spicker. It would have been more appropriate for
Alison to admonish Paul Spicker for sending a message that expressed a moral
posture about the website of a list member that was unecessarily aggressive
and not relevant to the subject matter of the list..
Can I ask you, Alison, to make an apology to Martin Sewell?
Ray Thomas, Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University
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-----Original Message-----
From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of John Bibby
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 7:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Message from 'listowner'
I haven't followed the details but
(a) I don't think the image of Hitler is relevant. (Who else's image would
impinge similarly?)
(b) I appreciate the work that Alison does.
(c) My prejudice is generally to let speech flow, however boring or drivelly
some people may find it. (A quick finger on the 'Delete' key is a great
timesaver I find - although admittedly it is often a decision to "Look the
other way", and one is reminded of the dictum from (?? - probably some
right-wing patriarchal bastard) "In order for evil to flourish, the only
thing necessary is for good men to look the other way".
Best Regards
JOHN BIBBY aa42/MatheMagic
1 Straylands Grove, York YO31 1EB (01904-330-334)
All statements are on behalf of aa42.com Limited, a company wholly owned by
John Bibby and Shirley Bibby. See www.aa42.com/mathemagic and
www.mathemagic.org
-----Original Message-----
From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Macfarlane, Alison
Sent: 25 June 2007 10:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Message from 'listowner'
I have received a number of complaints about recent correspondence and
consulted the troika and the jiscmail helpline about this. On the basis of
this, I am drawing your attention to jiscmail's policies:
Acceptable use policy. http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/policy/index.htm
Ethics statement http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/policy/ethics.htm
Guidelines on etiquette http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/policy/etiquette.htm
On the basis of these I have been advised to remove the two messages with
the link to the web site with the image of Hitler from our archive and have
done this. Jiscmail has also advised me to remove anyone who does not comply
with its policies from the list.
These guidelines are there to enable freedom of speech, not to restrict it.
Can I remind you that as a result of thye tenor of recent exchanges and the
tone in which some of the more extreme views have been expressed, other
people who joined the list to express their views have left. The purpose of
this list is to discuss statistics in their wider social and political
context, but the recent exchanges have strayed a very long way from anything
to do with statistics, and the message is that it is time to stop.
I know that people who disagree with this will not hesitate to say so, so I
hope that members who agree will also express their views.
Alison Macfarlane
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