'Son of Duff', inspired by my post below, has been moved to send a 'round Robin' e-mail letter to all of his friends claiming that he, too, wishes to lose his virginity! I reproduce it here because I think it is rather eloquent:
"Dear All,
The particular cherry I’m talking about losing isn’t sexual; you’ll be pleased to know. It’s political.
I’ve never been to a demo before, all that “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Out, out, out!” has never been my thing. But this one has caught my attention and I want to offer my support by attending the event and promoting it by dropping you a line.
It’s a march and rally for ‘freedom of expression’ and will be taking place in
http://marchforfreeexpression.blogspot.com/
I think the statement of principle by the organisers sums it up quite well: -
“The strength and survival of free society and the advance of human knowledge depend on the free exchange of ideas. All ideas are capable of giving offence, and some of the most powerful ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo and Darwin, have given profound religious offence in their time. The free exchange of ideas depends on freedom of expression and this includes the right to criticise and mock. We assert and uphold the right of freedom of expression and call on our elected representatives to do the same. We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas and we call on our elected representatives to protect them from attack and not to give comfort to the forces of intolerance that besiege them.”
I never thought it would be necessary for me to publicly express such a self-evident right. With my interest in military history I have visited many battlefields - and the inevitable war-graves - in Old, and now New, Europe and thought perhaps our great- and grand-parents had given enough to secure us this right forever. Recent events, however, have made me speculate that no amount of sacrifice, however great, guarantees such a right in perpetuity.
So if I, or we, express our views clearly and unambiguously to our elected representatives now, early on, and before it’s too late, we may hope and expect that a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon will be our only sacrifice to ensure that we, our children, and maybe the folks of other less fortunate nations and continents, enjoy the freedom to write a letter such as this - without mortal fear.
xox Loz
P.S. And if you feel quite strongly about it, you might like to forward this letter to your friends?"
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