The Meat of the Matter

I Don't Believe in the Uzi ... It Just Went Off In My Hand

Tom Zeller Jr.'s editorial appeared today in the NY Times. I was very happy to see that his viewpoint was right in line with what I'm trying to accomplish with BooYahoo. The entire text can be found here. Go Tom! In his e-mail, Tom queried why only 5 people had signed the BooYahoo! petition. My response was that while many people are sympathetic, they aren't sympathetic enough to go through the hassle of changing their e-mail accounts. Indeed it is a hassle and I understand. But still, it's sad. I've tried to explain that BooYahoo! isn't about China. It's about Freedom of Speech on the internet. The internet has no borders, and the idealist in me has always hoped that the internet would be a catalyst of freedom, since, as The Curmudgeon in Training has said, "Freedom of speech and dissidence are the opposable thumbs of democracy." (I'm probably misquoting--sorry!) To see the internet victimized by the status quo scares the bejezus out of me. It's supposed to be the other way around.