Re:Or... (Score 1)

As seen in this thread, amongst others, Philip Hallam-Baker (whom your message is in reply to) is rarely afraid to speak his mind,

Actually I am Phillip Hallam-Baker.

And in reference to the thread you cite, the issue was a series of allegations being thrown at Noam Chomsky, claiming that because he defended the right of the Holocaust revisionists to speak he was sympathetic to their aims.

Today we have John Ashcroft and John Poindexter attempting to obtain the powers of a police state. Each time someone points out that they are trampling on the liberties they claim to protect they drape themselves in the flag. It is the same tactic.

So yes, ten years ago I thought it important to expose the tactics being used against Noam, not because I agree with him but because I believe in the general principle of freedom of speech.

The fact that the US government has sunk to the level of a ten year old Usenet flame war is somewhat disappointing, but here we are. The fact that the GOP pay people to read slashdot and smear anyone who writes articles critical of Bush is another indication.

At this point it is generally agreed by all sides that Noam was right on East Timor, the invading Indonesian army had committed attrocities. The comparison of the US media treatment of Cambodia and East Timor was significant and justified. That does not mean that Noam is right on everything of course, but ten years later the point on which I was defending him has been proved beyond doubt.