Intimidation via libel

[Andrew Crystall]

On 9 Jun 2008 at 3:13, William T Goodall wrote:

> 
> On 8 Jun 2008, at 17:35, Andrew Crystall wrote:
> 
> > Of course, some people take it too far. Charles Stross, on his blog,
> > has recently been editing out any negative reference whatsoever to
> > Scientology, going far and away beyond what the law requires. That's
> > censorship, and it serves simply to encourage the abuse of the libel
> > law in the UK.
> >
> > We need to fix UK libel law, but we should also note the people who
> > allready go above and beyond, and boycott them until they mend their
> > ways.
> 
> It's his blog and he can set whatever rules he wants on it. I'm sure  
> your boycott will really bother him a lot :-)

William;

Your not bothering to stand up and say you'll be counted in this 
matter when it comes to the church of scientology rather a religion 
is amusing to me, and your seeming pursuit of "snappy" remarks over 
substance or action, yea. Heh.

But seriously, why do you assume it's just "me". He's entitled to 
wall away dissenting opinions if he wants. Authors who do this tend 
to get positive feedback cycles (heck, if you look at the history of 
Scientology there's clear examples of that), and I'm hardly the only 
person he's offended over this. I'm not going to do anything. I don't 
have to.

(Except rate, personally, Stross alongside Kratman as authors who let 
their political beliefs dictate their writing...although to be fair 
the good Dr. Brin seems to be doing that these days as well.)

Incidentally... I have very little in common in terms of actual 
beliefs with the right, compared  to the left. But I usually get on 
far better with the people on the right simply because they're not 
wrapped up in their little worlds in the same way. They might think 
you're talking crap, and they'll tell you so rather than walling you 
away and trying to pretend you're not there.

AndrewC