June 4, 1996
Dear Diary:
It's downright atrocious.
First, cp decides to buck the powerful conventional communications media on Delmarva with a snappy, sometimes provocative, electronic publication called "The Shore Journal."
Just recently, the "Shore Journal," now known as "Delmarva's Most Dangerous Electronic Magazine," celebrated a milestone: It became a yearling. (Even die-hard fans said it wouldn't last.)
Now, cp has got this notion the "Journal" can become a daily niche product, even doing what he and Kelley Rouse call "Live Internet Broadcasts." Just venturing a guess, I'd say Charlie is not a Republican, even though he often expresses "revolutionary" ideas.
Since 1776, revolutionary ideas should have a special place in every American's heart. We celebrate this notion every Fourth of July. Today, of course, the word revolutionary has a negative, politically incorrect, connotation. Think extremist or militia.
But language changes. New means of communicating are developing as you read this, and how it is delivered affects how you perceive it.
One of our federal government's most notable follies is the notion it can legislate morality on the World Wide Web (to protect minors from porn). The resulting legislation would seriously endanger the free-speech provisions of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Worse, it would produce a new breed of criminal: an electronic version of Al Capone, the thug who became a multimillionaire during Prohibition, an earlier but equally misguided effort by the government to legislate morality.
It is the nature of government to accomplish exactly the opposite of what it sets out to do, especially when it comes to moral issues. The current controversy about web-censorship is a perfect example.
There are things better attended to by communication rather than by legislation, but sometimes the lines between the two are unclear. And it's not only in national and international issues that this is true.
Here in Smallsbury, it has been suggested that a City Council person may have had some help composing a recently published letter. So what? Some people have a way with words, others need a bit of help to express their ideas and concerns.
That is why independent journalists like Rouse and Paparella and company are important. They express what a lot of people, like some of our government officials, find difficult to say. It's a message that matters.
Footnote: Yours truly sincerely appreciates the efforts of all
those people who helped make this a more digestible Internet snack. Stay tuned.
June 4, 1996 John Bozman All Rights Reserved
urnews@shore.intercom.net