Comments on: Disappearing Act http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/07/19/disappearing-act/ Jane Haddam’s WordPress weblog Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:25:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: robert_piepenbrink http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/07/19/disappearing-act/comment-page-1/#comment-1078 robert_piepenbrink Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:19:20 +0000 http://blog.janehaddam.com/?p=675#comment-1078 With due respect for Locke, he is NOT where rights begin. Try Runnymede, only they weren't new then. They were won--"inch and ell and all, slowly from the King" by people who hadn't even the decency to speak Greek or Latin, and who wouldn't have known a syllogism had it been baked and served for dinner. A right does not begin when a philosopher finds a rationale for it, any more than justice begins when a lawyer is placed on retainer. The things exist of themselves. A good philosopher points out our inconsistencies in these matters--but then so does a good novelist. We all have causes to uphold, but exagerating their history does not promote the cause. However, I'm with you all the way on the advantages of dead tree technology. I maintain some electronic records, but I fight a continual battle with format shifts, and I'm not even trying to edit the past. Also consider: if Amazon can delete the book from Kindle, can they alter it without comment? My guess is they can, and I can produce examples of authors--let alone censors--rewriting published texts to make a different political point. When I can, I have both copies, but in a world of purely electronic media, the author could wipe out the first edition. And don't get me started on our copyright laws. With due respect for Locke, he is NOT where rights begin. Try Runnymede, only they weren’t new then. They were won–”inch and ell and all, slowly from the King” by people who hadn’t even the decency to speak Greek or Latin, and who wouldn’t have known a syllogism had it been baked and served for dinner.

A right does not begin when a philosopher finds a rationale for it, any more than justice begins when a lawyer is placed on retainer. The things exist of themselves. A good philosopher points out our inconsistencies in these matters–but then so does a good novelist.

We all have causes to uphold, but exagerating their history does not promote the cause.

However, I’m with you all the way on the advantages of dead tree technology. I maintain some electronic records, but I fight a continual battle with format shifts, and I’m not even trying to edit the past.

Also consider: if Amazon can delete the book from Kindle, can they alter it without comment? My guess is they can, and I can produce examples of authors–let alone censors–rewriting published texts to make a different political point. When I can, I have both copies, but in a world of purely electronic media, the author could wipe out the first edition.

And don’t get me started on our copyright laws.

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