I dip in C&F from time to time, and I have always enjoyed the small nuggets of flute wisdom that can be found. I equally enjoy all of the bull roar and general editorialising than gets thrown back and forth, including the occasional political bantering. The Migoya vs AndrewK sparring that flared up now and then was always entertaining. I find the censoring of opinion and occasional spikes of arrogance a bit over the top and heavy handed . Its certainly counter to freedom of speech and rights of (virtual)assembly that my son, myself and my grandpappy defended in the service of the good ole USA. What gives?
With Andrew it may be that he is not himself luminous, but he is a usually a conductor of light in the world of antique flutedom and political opinion. I say let him back in.
Dale - We should all get along and people who use their literary abilities to put others down should be pulled up - bullying is bullying in any form-Dale for President I say
Well I think it’s a shame he’s been kicked out. I’ve always found his posts informative and amusing. Here’s a toast to the freedom of speech, ‘cheers!’.
This board is Dale’s private property. Freedom of speech applies here only as much as he allows it. And in my opinion he allows it in spades.
I agree with Jim: Andrew’s best hope of returning is for all of us to leave this be. If Andrew wants to return, I’m sure Dale would read any emails Andrew sent him, and that would be a good beginning.
As others have said, free speech can be limited in certain contexts. And even if I had agreed with andrewK’s politics, which he managed to work into the most incongruous of situations, I would say his penchant for insulting anyone with no provocation make his fate richly deserved. Good riddance, and long live civility.
I was very shocked by some instances of what Chang He is refering to. The person in question seemed to be really quite troubled to me and unable to control himself at all. I thought it was just a dreadful, dreadful situation, particularly for him.
I am starting to realize that for some people a situation like this is entertainment. It is not a question of free speech, it is a question of your entertainment being taken away. If you are a friend of this person in real life, I hope you can help him. But those of you who aren’t should feel ashamed for getting your kicks by observing and encouraging such sad behavior.
I have no problem with people offending me, and I really have no particular problem with offending other people, per se, so long as it is the result of they or my speaking our opinions, but:
I cannot help but note that the very first response to my very first post on this forum was a direct insult by AndrewK, which is something rather different than giving offense. I’m a big boy, I can take it and without any blubbering, whining or calling for bans, but the fact that the insult was both pointless and juvenile does not exactly incline me to rush to his defense. Call it karma if you will.
If, however, AndrewK wishes to put up his own website called “Chiff & Fipple Sucks and Dale is a Poopyhead” I will defend his right to do so until my death. Everyone has the right to make an arse of themselves with their speech, which is a good thing, as we all do it, at least from time to time.
Whatever one’s view of the situation, it’s a disservice to real freedom of speech issues to wave that flag here. Free speech & censorship is a straw man here. There’s no there, there (thanks Gertrude). It’s pretty clear what our choices are, and to what we agree (by posting here), namely:
