--- "Michael R. Irwin" mri_icboise@surfbest.net wrote:
Personally I feel censorship in any form is a slippery slope towards totalitarianism and attempted mind control which is best avoided entirely, if possible.
Mike,
Your concluding sentence about the "slippery slope towards totalinarianism" clarifies for me why you comment at length on a situation about which you admit to not knowing the particulars. The details appear to be less relevant in your view of things than the abstract principle at stake.
I am prone to this sort of thinking myself, i.e. I think very abstractly and in terms of principle. For example, I don't drink a drop of alcohol myself, because even a glass of wine with dinner at home among the family is in principle connected to impaired brain function, drunk driving, alcoholism, wrecked kidneys, wrecked relationships, etc., etc. I must make a concerted effort to understand that moderation is possible, and that not every situation in life is a slippery slope.
There are practical, incremental differences between modes of contribution to Wikipedia. It is apparently difficult to know exactly when to draw a line and say that someone is behving unacceptably. But I would hope that we can clearly distinguish banning an individual from totalitarianism, to the same extent that we can distinguish incorporating opposing views from anarchy and descent into meaninglessness.
Without saying anything particular about Helga, I would encourage you to construct your arguments somewhat differently. Rather than identifying a single principle in a situation and imagining that principle at its extremes, try to identify *as many principles as possible* and imagine how each governs and regulates the others. You may find that your thinking becomes less clear and less easy to express, but in my humble experience, reality itself is not necessarily clear and easy to express.
Peace, -Karl
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