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From: Ron House <house@usq.edu.au> To: bahai-faith@makelist.com <bahai-faith@makelist.com> Subject: Re: [bahai-faith] Freedom of Choice Date: Wednesday, June 24, 1998 12:42 AM When I saw the following article I just had to respond, as it betrays serious mistakes about the Internet and also the Baha'i Faith. George & Marlena wrote: > I fail to understand how the practices of S.R.B. are in any way contrary to > that which is written in the constitution or for that matter, are any > different from any major newspaper in the US. True. The US constitution guarantees that governments won't censor people, it doesn't compel everyone to reproduce everything anyone else says. > We are free to write and say > ANYTHING we want. Newspapers and newsrooms are not required to print it. > Surely educated people know that the major newspapers are all predisposed to > advance their own particular point of viewand not the view of others. Its > their newspaper; they can print what they want. I assume the "owners" of SRB > have the same freedom. Here is the main error, and it is a serious one. The owners of a newspaper own it because they purchased it; they buy the ink and the presses and the paper and pay the writers, etc. etc. The Internet is not owned by Baha'is or the Baha'i Faith; it is carried free of charge by, and at the expense of, a variety of secular, business, educational, and even religious organisations who store it on their computers and transmit it at their own expense. These people have collectively said "Okay, we will GIVE our resources to any group who have a charter and who get X votes from other users." In other words, SRB (and all other Internet newsgroups) are a gift to the users from the carriers. This raises some serious issues. First, ANY moderator of a NG has a responsibility to stick to the charter under which the NG was founded, as that is the basis of the gift; if I give money to a charity and find it is used by the collector to gamble or drink, I have a legitimate reason for complaint. The charter of SRB states that the NG is open to ALL comment on the Baha'i Faith except for covenant-breaking, provided it is civil and doesn't attack persons as individuals. Violating that charter is accepting a gift under false pretences, and is immoral, especially for Baha'is, given Baha'u'llah's high standard of truthfulness. It is absurdly easy to produce examples of postings that easily pass the test in the charter of SRB and which have been rejected by the moderators. Each such rejection is immoral on both secular and Baha'i standards. Second, by accepting this gift and using it as an instrument for propagating the Baha'i Faith, Baha'is are using a secular contribution to do the work of the Faith, which should rightly be paid for by Baha'i funds. This violates Baha'u'llah's proscription against accepting contributions from non-Baha'is. > As > a Baha'i I am glad that my contributions to the fund are not being wasted > publicizing points of view that are contrary to the teachings of the Baha'i > Faith. I am also glad that I don't have to read it. But as these are non-Baha'i funds, you should clearly think again, no? And as a second thought: who are YOU to decide what is contrary to the Baha'i teachings? One of the fundamental principles of your religion is that you have no right to rule on this question (issue authoritative interpretations). Every time you support a decision that a certain view should be suppressed because it is against your interpretation, you make your own words authoritative and you commit a worse sin than any of the people you criticise. > When all newsgroups are required to print everything that is submitted to > them, I loose the freedom of choice, because then all the groups would be > all the same. I vote to keep the freedom of choice, and S.R.B. No one is suggesting that all NGs print everything they receive. We are suggesting that SRB should obey its own charter, and that there be ANOTHER channel that has no moderator. Surely THAT is freedom of choice; a choice of 1 isn't a choice at all. -- Ron House house@usq.edu.au ---- List Archive: https://www.findmail.com/listsaver/bahai-faith/ To Subscribe: e-mail to bahai-faith-subscribe@makelist.com To Unsubscribe: e-mail to bahai-faith-unsubscribe@makelist.com -- Start Your Own Free Mailing List at https://www.MakeList.com ! Homepage |