[pp.int.general] Fwd: [FC-discuss] Fwd: Urgent -- Aaron was just arrested

[Pat Mächler]

On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 8:56 AM, Christian Hufgard
<pp at christian-hufgard.de> wrote:
> On 23.07.2011 03:55, Richard Stallman wrote:
>>     The documents are not public. Their content is no longer protected by
>>     copyright.
>>
>> Maybe that is true -- but is it relevant?  It seems to me that the principal
>> issue, concerning the posting of these old magazines on the net,
>> is not whether it is lawful, but whether it is right or wrong.
>> And whether it is wrong that they are not available already.
>>
>> Violating an unjust law is not evil.
>
> No, it's stupid. Changing unjust law is the right way. But that's just
> my opionion. That why I joined the pirate party instead of founding a
> guerilla troup.

In an ideal democratic system changing the unjust law is indeed the ideal way.
However what is just or unjust, ideal or non-ideal can always be disputed.

There are certainly situations where violating written law creates
more problems towards achieving an ideal than if you try to do it the
purely democratic way, because it can obstruct the democratic ideal
and lead to an even worse polarization;
there are also certainly situations where violating the written law is
actually the only promising way to achieve any change at all towards
the ideal, because the democratic ideal is itself obstructed by the
law and norms.

Advocating to go into either extreme without prior in-depth reflection
is dangerous and stupid (or the both of you have a different idea when
you speak about an "unjust law").