“in some countries everything is permitted except that which is denied by law whilst in other countries everything is forbidden except that permitted by law”.

Don’t know if that helps

I disagree completely about this so-called ‘masculinist’ approach. Why is everything a passive-aggressive dichotomy with you? It’s not like I believe people should just ‘be a man’ about it. I believe strongly (and have plenty of volunteer hours to support that) that a helping hand should be offered, but offered in such a way that helps peole become self-sufficient, and not eternally dependent. I have faith in the human spirit, no matter what marginilazed group that human belongs to.

“Private” is derived from the Middle English word “privat”, which is derived from the latin “privus”, which means “not in public life”.

“Privilege” is from a latin compound word: “privus” (private) + “leg” (law). It literally means “private law”.

ライバシーは特権なのかというあたりについてのブログ上での議論…

you wrote: “…Just as we have a duty in society to protect people in private space, we have a duty to protect them in public space. We don’t allow people to violate each other when they walk out into the street simply because they chose to step out there. Why should we let institutions do so? What gives marketers some special privilege to determine how people can be psychologically manipulated in society?”

Aren’t you flirting with freedom of speech here? This is another Right we are Prvileged to have in this country that a lot of people have died for.

Rather than berating the evil forces out there for doing what they do to ‘psychologically manipulate’ all the poor, unsuspecting, marginalized groups in the population, why don’t we teach individuals in these groups to recognize when they are being manipulated and how to defend themselves against it?

You know, ‘Accountability’ and that ‘give a person a fish or teach a person to fish’ thing

A couple parting thoughts to your contributors who made this a really interesting foray into a new corner of the blogosphere’ for me…

fling93 – well-stated points from a guy with something other than the usual SWM POV – especially the ‘youth’ comments. You’re right, of course.

Abby – a bit self-absorbe, dontcha think?

Brad – if you’re gonna rip on someone else’s comments, know the premise before you spout off

leena – same as Brad. Also, you may want to get out a bit more – you know, with people who don’t use 50-cent words like ‘mysogyny’ in their everyday conversation. Do some volunteer work and rub elbows with the real world.

Freedom of speech has nothing to do with the size of your audience. It has everything to do with your right to say anything you want short of ‘Fire!’ in a theater without any retribution (other than the rolling of eyes from others when they hear you say it – trust me on this one – I’m causing all kinds of eye rolling right now).

The credibility of what it is you are saying will determine how large an audience you attract.