m. c. de marco: To invent new life and new civilizations...

I became a de facto member of the 1654 Society a while back when it merged with another group to which I apparently belonged. (I don’t quite recall the details now.) As a consequence, I got a complimentary copy of Conversations in the mail this week, with a link to the IJII’s website. I had the feeling when I first looked at it that it was a fellow drupal site, but I wasn’t certain until I signed up and saw the telltale tabs on the registration page.

Considering my intimate personal knowledge of the inner workings—not to mention the perpetual security alerts—of drupal, I was a little surprised to see it being used for shopping and paid memberships. In the end, though, it passed me on to Google Checkout, so I’m not as disturbed as I could have been. I have taken sides as securely as possible.

I could go into the politics behind the IJII and how I accidentally woke up ultra-modern (as I have recently woken up Portuguese and even woken up pagan)—it didn’t just come to me in the mail—but it’s always easier to quote others:

First, we must stand up and be counted on the side of freedom of expression. We, as a community, must give encouragement to all who have legitimate opinions to share. We must not tolerate intolerance. We must not yield to the tactics of coercion and intimidation.

It sounds so simple.