Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 10:42:55 -0400
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Re: Bob Black and Lucy Parsons


Tom Trouble wrote:

> Jamal, Jamal.  Anarchy magazine did not start the attacks on Lucy Parsons.
> They responded to a letter from a member of the Lucy Parsons Center
> attacking Bob Black and Anarchy magazine for publishing his stuff.  This
> member proudly boasted about the fact that Black's books were pulled from
> the shelves at the Center.  Their letter was also in response to a letter
> from Black in Anarchy (#46) in which he claimed Hogshire was also a police
> snitch.  This is old news about a personal grudge match.  Anarchy magazine
> is tired of this stuff and simply suggested "if you really want to do
> something about this, try addressing your comments to Black or Hogshire
> themselves."  Anarchy mag also pointed out that they do not make decisions
> on who gets published based on which author has the most spotless
> reputation.  They pointed out that publishing someone's writings does *not*
> mean they condone that person's activities from birth until present.
> Really, this is not too difficult to grasp.  Lucy Parsons Center appears to
> exhibit a double standard when it chooses to hold the authors of their books
> to a particular moral standard since they sell books by mass murderers,
> snitches, nutcases, and yes, even despicable people.  For a bookstore to
> censor a book is a cowardly act.  To censor a book because the author was a
> failed police snitch yet continue to carry books by other snitches and
> genocidal maniacs is hypocrisy.

Exactly! This is why I've persisted in not posting information about the
Black-Hogshire grudge match online. It's old news and Black just uses it
to get attention for himself. If you have a problem with Black, talk to
him about it.

Is the Lucy Parson Center going to pull books by all snitches and the
like, or just books by authors that Jon Bekken doesn't like?

> Jamal, what Black did was despicable and he ought to be ashamed of himself.
> What Lucy Parsons did to her own son was also despicable.  I don't think you
> should sugarcoat having someone locked away in a mental prison for 20 years
> as a misguided "noble" gesture.

I haven't heard one person yet defend Bob Black's actions, other than
himself.

> Hey Jamal,  Chuck is a librarian and a big supporter of free speech and an
> anti-censorship activist.  That doesn't automatically translate into
> "pro-Bob Black."  Chomsky's defense of Robert Faurrisson doesn't translate
> into "pro-holocaust revisionist."  This is the biggest problem with your
> characterizations and labeling of other people.  You purposely divide people
> and put them in various "camps."  It's not a black & white world Jamal.
> There's a lot of gray areas.  Start dealing with people as fellow human
> beings a little more.  That might help minimize these petty squabbles that
> appear to be stressing you out lately.

What has really distressed me about all of this is that I'm being
attacked by anarchists AND the religious right. I'm working on a project
right now (nofilters.org) which will be for librarians and library
supporters who want to keep filtering out of libraries. I've been pretty
outspoken in the library world about the rights of children to have
unfettered access to the Internet. I've always based my free speech
advocacy on anarchist principles and history.


-- 
Chuck0

Alternative Press Review
http://flag.blackened.net/apr/

Free Leonard Peltier!

"A society is a healthy society only to the degree 
that it exhibits anarchistic traits." 
        - Jens Bjørneboe 

ABORT THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT!