• Location: home
• Mood: determined
• Music: Soundtrack to "The Cheat", 1915

"Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"

I returned to the computer this afternoon afire to weigh in on LJ's misguided response to WFI.  I planned to tie 6Apart's ham-fistedness to British law enforcement's criminal persecution of the Rolling Stones forty years ago.  I ran down The Times editorial, "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel", that marked the change in public opinion on the arrests of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.  Then I hunkered down to be scathing, scabrous and brilliant, ultimately comparing an LJ denuded of its fan posters and liberal fictionistas to a butterfly stripped of its wings.  IOW, a dead bug virtually indistinguishable from a cockroach.
Fortunately, I decided to check on the action before I started typing.  Go us!  The fierce, concerted viral reaction to LJ's suspension of accounts resulted in a shambling apology and reinstatement of most of the wronged blogs, with promises of more to follow.  It isn't enough.  I agree with one of the posters on whydoesljcensor.  I want some guarantee that my rights will be protected.  In addition, despite being a lifetime LJ member, I will be looking to take my blog elsewhere as a result of this incident.  But I'm realist enough to know a mumbled apology is still a win for the forces of good.
So I picked up my research materials (I don't know about you, but I sure can't be brilliant without back-up) with the idea of actually reshelving them for a change.  Got to the last one, The Rolling Stones, an Illustrated Record by Roy Carr, and decided to reread The Times editorial from which I drew my title.  
Across all these years, the issues remain the same.  The editorial's key point bears repeating in this context:

If we are going to make any case a symbol of the conflict between the sound traditional values of Britain and the new hedonism, then we must be sure that the sound traditional values include those of tolerence and equity.

Tolerence.  Equity.  I sincerely hope LJ won't lose sight of them again.  But to quote a saw that applies to our First Amendment rights as much as to our national defense: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Thank you to the vigilant defenders of free speech on LJ.  I stand with you now and always.