X-Message-Number: 29108
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 15:43:54 -0700
From: "Jeff Davis" <>
Subject: Re:compensation for foolishness

Message #29096
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 14:20:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: compensation for foolishness

> I recall when Keith was standing with his picket sign and
indulging in court battles, he described the whole thing as
"fun."

Fighting the good fight can be hairy, difficult, dangerous, and
rewarding.  And in some sense "fun".  Everyone I know, who knows
Keith, with the exception of Charles Platt, admire Keith for the stand
he has taken.  Overmatched as he was, he placed himself in personal
jeopardy, and payed dearly for it, but it was his choice to make.

> I used to run a very-small-town newspaper, for "fun." After
one of the local police was fired partly as a result of an
interview that he gave me, and several people in the town
government became thoroughly annoyed by my reports of their
meetings, I found myself locked up for a short space of time
(purely by coincidence, of course). All charges were dropped,
months later, when I signed an agreement with the local
prosecutor to move out of the valley where the town was
located.

> This is how the world works,

And supporting your friends/fellow community members when they need
your help is also the way the world works.  If you're not John Galt,
or have friends.

>... and if you fail to understand
the world, it will teach you. I learned,

What you seem to have learned is to smugly abandon those who might
otherwise be your friends, and denigrate their courage when they take
a stand.  Sad.  I hope that if the time ever comes that you find
yourself in need of support, that your "associates" don't just say
"Screw Charles, it's his problem."

>... and I trust that
Keith can achieve a similar level of enlightenment.

> However, I never asked for help with legal fees or bail. My
problems had nothing to do with cryonics, and if anyone else
had asked on my behalf, I would have told them to stop.

You're a helluva guy, Charles.  A real rock.

> Keith picked a fight with a religious group

Scientology is a viciously destructive cult akin to the Tuggees; the
furthest thing from a "religious" group.

>... that has a
reputation for being the most litigious in the world. I wish
him the best, but we should not expect other people to
compensate us for our foolishness when the "fun" isn't fun
anymore.

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because
I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I
was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me."

 Martin Niem ller

Standing up for what's right is never foolishness.

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