Re: Friendly reminder - or censorship

[Gordon Riley <Gordon_Riley@MERCERSBURG.EDU>]

I frequently provide rapid answers to questions by private mail when I =
feel that my expertise in searching the Internet can be useful.  I have =
also made general postings that people have found to be very useful, so =
they have said.  However the post from our moderator has me seriously =
considering resigning from the list.  I hope we can have a public =
discussion about changing the offending policy, so that this will not be =
necessary.

As an ALA member, I have an obligation to follow the Professional Ethics =
adopted by ALA membership, in addition to the fact that I strongly believe =
in these ethics.  Point II states: "We uphold the principles of intellectua=
l freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources."  I believe =
that this listserv constitutes a library resource for professional =
development.

I do not feel that deselecting potentially slanderous and defamatory =
"flames" from general publication is necessarily censorship.  This can be =
censorship, however.  For example, a rant that I posted to PUBLIB was =
rejected by the moderators, because they thought it might be offensive to =
jews, and I had to bring up the censorship question to get it posted.  =
This post can be viewed at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/PubLib/archive/9711/=
0087.html.

What I do find to be intolerable is the idea that a person can be removed =
from the list and denied access to this resource because of private =
speech.  I specifically refer to this point from the moderator's post.=20


>>> Peter Milbury <pmilbury@ERICIR.SYR.EDU> 02/25 9:00 PM >>>
   Note: This guideline includes private e-mail sent in response to
         to something that an LM_NET member has posted. It doesn't
         matter if you send the rude message to someone in private. If
         you reply to an LM_NET posting, please remember to be polite
         and civil.

While it is true that if I flame somebody in private that person may not =
like it.  If they blame their membership in the list for exposing them to =
this kind of abuse, it is their option to resign or to not post.  =
Nonetheless, I believe it is my right and everyone else's right to "calls =
'em as I sees 'em" and I refuse to be a part of institutionalized =
prior-restraint censorship.

Gordon Riley
Technical Services Librarian
The Mercersburg Academy
Mercersburg, PA
Gordon_riley@mercersburg.edu

The opinions expressed are my own!

"It's all about sincerity.  Once you can fake that, you've got it made."  =
Former NFL Head Coach Monte Clark.

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