Please Support FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

[chaz wyman]

Burn a Poppy Today for free speech!

[RickLewis]

In case anyone is wondering, Chaz is I think referring to an incident yesterday or the day before when Kent police arrested somebody for burning a poppy.

[uwot]

Hi Chaz
I think we should do all we can to support freedom of expression, but I don't believe burning poppies is the way to do it. Whatever you think of their motives, people are prepared to give up their lives, in part, to do exactly what you are advocating. I suspect the people who would be most affected are the men, women and children widowed and orphaned. They are not your targets.

[chaz wyman]

In case anyone is wondering, Chaz is I think referring to an incident yesterday or the day before when Kent police arrested somebody for burning a poppy.

According to the Radio 4 broadcast he was arrested for posting an image of a burning poppy on a social networking website.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... itter.html

[chaz wyman]

Hi Chaz
I think we should do all we can to support freedom of expression, but I don't believe burning poppies is the way to do it. Whatever you think of their motives, people are prepared to give up their lives, in part, to do exactly what you are advocating. I suspect the people who would be most affected are the men, women and children widowed and orphaned. They are not your targets.

Do you think it is acceptable to arrest a man for posing an image of a burning poppy online?

My poppy is not about Remembrance; it is about freedom of artistic expression.

I well understand why people are upset about burning a poppy, though I do not wear a poppy myself, as I think Poppy Day is an excuse for many to glorify warfare.

Posting an image is an artistic statement, and this means it comes under the rubric of free speech.
If it make us ask how is it that some people feel so alienated from society to be able to do this, then it serves a purpose.
Maybe we will be able to find ourselves capable of understanding and consider solutions.

In any event the only person who has been harmed by this is the person arrested and the reputation of the British police.

[RickLewis]

Thanks for posting that link. I'm utterly gobsmacked. Despite daily evidence of the stupidity of officialdom, sometimes something like this comes along that completely takes your breath away.

[Atthet]

You fatherless, pathetic British bastards don't deserve free speech. Shut up and be silenced. You will be censored for disagreeing with those in power. You will be silenced if you ever cross Rick Lewish' personal opinions.

You think this is a philosophy forum?! HA!

The only "philosophy" going on here, is what Rick Lewish permits. His dogma and cult is superior than yours.

Learn to obey, Cheeze Winemean. You are a slave. That is what you do best. How dare you call for "free" speech, you hypocrite? Nothing in life is free, especially not speech! You need to pay to play, slave.

[bus2bondi]

so what happened to this man? i agree with a comment here that it is not the best way to express yourself and really does not help anything, however, this guy is innocent.

[chaz wyman]

so what happened to this man? i agree with a comment here that it is not the best way to express yourself and really does not help anything, however, this guy is innocent.

In the new climate of anti-terrorism both here and in the US, the security services have extended powers, such as arrest without charge. Most people in the heat of the moment thought it was okay.

In this case there was so much fuss made that he was realised, as I understand.
But it looks like it's yesterday's news already with so much else going on such as the BBC in the shit and Israel starting a new war for a bit of electioneering.

If any one has more news on it I like to hear it.

[bus2bondi]

well i hope so, if not, what can we do, i'd like to try and help him, but i wouldn't know what to do. i'm not rich or in a powerful position either so, i'd be more at a loss, but i'd like to try.

i get the whole 'looks like it's yesterday's news already' thing. onto the next hot story. i often wonder after i hear about these big events sometimes, why, all of a sudden they disappear in a flash. i think in the last year or so it was the destruction of the gulf and possibly the entire ocean because of an oil rig explosion. a major catastrophe, and somehow i never ended up finding out the end of the story. i just assumed it was all solved after i stopped hearing about it.

and the nuclear incident in the east. what ever happened after that?

i was at the gas station today and happened to catch with the glimpse of my eye something in the newspaper stand about Isreal at war.

i like your thoughts about alternatives and a recent book i've been reading called 'Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict reminded me of that. on the first page, some reviews:

'The Institute of Peace has done well in presenting a rich diversity of analyses, of actors, processes, and entry points into the turbulence of the international system. While 'realism' and 'idealism' alternate in the analyses, the butterfly-wings metaphor that opens the book leaves room for the longer-term vision-that wiser policy choices at every level of human interaction may lead us past ages of warfare to more temperate ways of dealing with human diversity. (Elise Boulding, International Peace Research Association)

'The Cold War is over but international conflict is not. The Institute of Peace lives up to its name by illuminating here the complex causes of conflict and the broad range of options that lie between doing nothing and military intervention.' (Joseph Nye, Harvard University)

[reasonvemotion]

I strongly disagree.

That action of burning the poppy on the 11th day of November, was one of disrespect.

A smart ass kid who knows nothing about the atrocities of war.

[bus2bondi]

i don't even know what the 11th day of November is, i'm not a smart ass kid anymore, but i still don't know what the 11th day of November means? is that my fault? as far as i ever knew, i was just born here. i'm a human and just naturally started asking questions. what is the 11th day of November? i have no idea what the 11th day of November means.

[bus2bondi]

did it have something to do with none of us in the future ever having to know what November 11th means? i don't know. i was just born here and have no idea why. what is November 11th?

[bus2bondi]

here's sort of a crappy analogy, but kinda similar.

i have a tom cat, who is also still most kitten. every morning, in the wee hours, 4 a.m., 5 a.m..... starts trying to get me to give him his morning treats.

he is relentless and does not give up. if you think you know what the word relentless is. you have not met murp murps.

i usually don't get annoyed, even at 4 or 5 in the morning i'm happy to see the little tird, and snuggle him up, however, those are still sleeping hours for some and i'm always not feeling so ready to be wide awake at 4 or 5 in the morning being nipped at, because this particular cat is not usually content at that time and is very polite about it but yet at the same time starts biting my nose, does everything and anything until he gets his way... that's alright, but...

so sometimes, occasionally i have to half asleep say 'murps!' and i keep sending him away. every time i do that, i feel terrible, but i know it's only because he doesn't know any better and he's just being a cat, and the cat he is. so that's what makes me feel terrible about it.

he doesn't know. he's like, 'hey, i was just born here, and i'm being a cat, i thought that's what i was?' something like that..

[reasonvemotion]

It is a day to remember when the first World War officially ended. The 11th hour of the 11th month in the year 1918.

It also encompasses remembering the men and women who died in World War 2 and the Vietnam War. To remember these people who fought for Freedom. For us.

To lessen that is an act of ignorance and disrespect. If anyone who participated in any of these wars and is reading this, I say sincerely,


I thank you.

and the rest is bull shit.