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Pastimes : and there was no one left to speak for me -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: melinda abplanalp who wrote (42)	9/16/1998 1:17:00 AM
From: INFO_DART	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 276

Yes, it has made me sad, angry, elated and empowered . . . pretty strong medicine. It is the strongest call to action I know. It was written by the German Protestant Pastor Martin Niemoller, who was the leader of the Confessional Church, a Nazi opposition group. Some of the historical context for the quote is that the Roman Catholic Church believed it was safe due to the 1933 concordat between Hitler and the Vatican, negotiated by the future Pope Pius XII. It granted certain rights to the Catholic Church in Germany as long as the church didn't get involved in "Politics." It also diminished the influence of the Catholic trade unions in Germany. The Nazi German Christian Faith Movement ultimately took over all mainstream church offices. Although the concentration camps were mainly filled with Jews, there were others. All were color coded. Yellow Star of David for Jews, Pink Triangle for Homosexuals, Brown for Gypsies, Purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, Red for German political prisoners - communists, Socialists, Black for vagrants and lesbians, green for habitual criminals, and blue for emigrants. This is the context in which I understand the quote. Among other things, it is an unequivocal condemnation of "Bystanders." I think it is especially poignant in the context of SI. ". . . there was no one left to speak for me." SI is all about speaking. In the virtual reality of SI, our entire existence is our voice and the links left behind. When our membership is terminated, we are "virtually" executed by the "state." When others drown out our voice by harassing or excessively off-topic posts or posts that attempt to question our motives rather than the merits of our arguments they are drowning us out of existence. When others righteously proclaim to the (SI) world that our voice is not to be listened to, they are trying to banish us from (the virtual) society. It seems to me that too many are too quick to pull the trigger on fellow members at SI. For example, take a look at how a gang on SI members "ran me out of town" on my own thread. See thread header for definition. Subject 22585 Then the first off topic post from "x y zebra" Message 5562513 Which I optimistically try to turn into a positive on topic discussion. Then the attack of the rest of the clan . . . "Tastes Like Chicken" Message 5564584 "IMPRISTINE" Message 5566115 Then the final triumph of the kill . . . "I think that you can also rest assured that not many people are listening to you or your thread as it has not been very busy, so.... maybe we should let dead dogs.... be dead....." by "x y zebra" along with some more off topic dribble: Message 5570968 . This is one of the ways social control is exercised by the power elite and power wanabes in our virtual society. Of course they will say it is for the good of all, or the weak and stupid, or on Thread Moron that they deserved it, or that it was just funny. It always starts with a joke ("did you here the one about the pompous XXX who . . .") until they are emboldened enough to be more direct. Of course that is just my opinion, what's yours.