The author of "Agony in Pink" on "Jake Baker"

[The Dark Ranger]

As the author of "Agony in Pink," I've been watching the whole "Jake Baker"
case with more than a casual interest. The major question is, of course,
exactly why was Baker arrested. Was he arrested for writing the story, or
for threatening somebody. According to the Feds, it was for threatening
someone, and only for that. Did he make a direct threat to the woman?
Apparently, he did not. However, legally, if a reasonable person could
construe something as a threat, then it's a threat. We can all have
opinions about whether or not the woman should have felt threatened, but the
fact is that the Feds apparently felt that there was enough evidence to
support her claim. Whether he legally threatened her is something we will
find out later, although due to the First Amendment concerns the case most
likely will never get to trial. (Unless it's a direct threat, the First
Amendment allows people to pretty much say and write what they please.)

Remember, the key point here is that in order for speech or writing to not
be protected under the blanket protection that is the First Amendment, it
must be a legitimate threat. And that's an important point. It's not
enough for somebody to feel threatened, they must actually BE threatened.
And even that's not always enough -- it pretty much has to be a direct
threat with a reasonable basis of being carried out. As an example, many
Muslims in America (including the former "Cat Stevens") have publicly
supported the Ayatollah Khomeni's call for execution of Salmun Rushdi (sp?).
However, despite the fact that these people have openly and publicly called
for Rushdi's murder, none of them have been arrested. Why? Because there
is no basis for assuming that they were actually going to do it, nor was
there evidence that their speech or writing was going to convince people to
attack Rushdi. An even stronger example are the group of anti-abortionists
who signed an agreement that said that doctors who perform abortions deserve
to die. One of those people, Paul Hill, actually carried out their
statement. Does this mean that the others should be rounded up and
arrested, since it's quite reasonable to assume that since one of them
carried out their threat, more of them will follow suit? No, because there
is no evidence that anybody actually will, so they are protected. The First
Amendment is pretty strong, and it takes some extraordinary circumstances to
suspend it. As for Baker, if he actually made direct threats to the woman
or made actual plans to carry out an attack, then he's going to jail, where
he belongs. If not, he will eventually end up before a judge who has
actually read the Constitution and Baker will be set free.

The more depressing aspect of this whole case, though, are the comments on
this newsgroup by people who support Baker's arrest and prosecution based
solely on the story he wrote. There have been comments along the lines of
"If somebody writes a story like that, then he intends to do it" and other
postings where they hope that Baker is raped and tortured in jail. To those
of you who feel that way, then I feel sorry for you. Alt.sex.stories is the
bastion of freedom here on the Internet -- a place where you find things you
never thought possible, a place where you can create fantasies and revel in
those of others. It is sad when people are unable to distinguish fantasy
from reality, and even sadder when people refuse to be tolerant of others.
To those of us who love the unfettered freedom that a.s.s. provides, I can
only say that we must continue to support it, and support it strongly. To
that end, I am, in response to much demands, reposting one of the most
talked about stories of recent memory, my magnum opus "Agony in Pink" in its
original form (and if you guys thought the Baker story was demented, wait'll
you read "Agony in Pink"!), and will continue to write and post stories.

I am posting this in both a.s.s and a.s.s.d only because there is a lot of
discussion now in a.s.s. Please follow up in a.s.s.d, as I will be keeping
all commentary there from now on.

The Dark Ranger

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