I think what most likely bothered many people with the new times publishing the address of sheriff joe in it�s paper wasn�t the fear that rational people with �half a brain� would do something dastardly , but those who�s brain�s don�t function like most normal people aka �insane� people would do something . While we can preach about how �ANYONE� can find his address , the insane who wander our streets and ride our city busses , of which there are many , don�t have accesses to an internet , or in many cases the mental capacity to find something on it . The entire internet isssue is just a straw man for the publishing of his address on the cover of the new times . Below is another comment I left on a different news agency in regards to their public outing of a public officials address. .
The reason we as a society should not be putting the names and addresses of these individuals in the paper and in EASY view on the internet is quite simple ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...
Now some of you are going to cry out �but it�s already public knowledge!� while it maybe , there aren�t too many insane individuals that I know who have the patience to sit down at a computer and try sorting through the red tape of government files to find the addresses of officials .There ARE many insane individuals in Arizona , I say this because our state has a HORRIBLE track record of trying to help these people , instead we let them wander the streets . What I find very interesting is that many of them tend to believe that the government is �after them � .
While the[ papers, tv stations ,media ] have the RIGHT to publish the addresses of these civil servants, it is nothing less than a tool to terrify or at the worst extreme, a between the lines message to call for harm to these individuals .Correct me if I�m wrong , but isn�t this a tactic used by oppressive countries to control and install terror in its victims ? I for one know that if I had a regime , and there were people I didn�t like , I would DEFENTELY use what the [ XYZ publication or news agency ] has just done as a tool against my enemies . Sometimes the worst fear a person can have is the unknown , especially when you have a family , If for instance it were solely myself affected by the paper I would be nervous , but I�d be able to live ,however if I had a wife and kids , I would live in fear of what could happen to my family . When you take elected officials and begin to put them in a perpetual state of apprehension , you in effect kill their political effectiveness and ability . Also wasn�t this guy who�s address was revealed responsible for having hundreds of illegal aliens deported , not to mention doesn�t he oversee the prosecution of criminals ? Is your [media organization] insane? Or do just want this person to get killed along with their family ? I�m going to assume that many of the people who work for the [XYZ news paper or news agency ] are worldly , how many reporters and prosecutors are killed in other countries on a daily basis ? Just because you CAN do something does not mean that you SHOULD do something . You wanted to make a point that you COULD do it and you have , now we sit and wait , most likely nothing will come of it , no harm , no horror .Still thou , this is one day when I look at the first amendment and I feel sadness because your organization has twisted such a beautiful thing .
