From: Greg Burch (gregburch@gregburch.net)
Date: Sun Mar 30 2003 - 13:24:00 MST
I can't resist saying that I'm sick and tired of the discussion about
the war on this list. There's a level at which -- as I've said before
-- discussion of the war, and the reasons for opposing or supporting it,
is appropriate to this list. But there's a kind of hyperbolic rhetoric
that HAS to stop, or I *WILL* act to impose some decorum (with or
without UN support).
Almost everyone has strong feelings about the war, and being exposed to
people whose views utterly differ from one's own can be emotionally
inflammatory -- I know it is for me. It takes effort to exercise
self-control in the face of what one may feel to be idiocy, perhaps even
dangerous idiocy. But I am going to make a civil appeal to all list
members to TONE DOWN THE RHETORIC.
Now, so it's clear and we can get it all out in the open, let's identify
the hot buttons. Strong opponents of the war find expressions of
warlike sentiment -- even the vocabulary of war -- offensive and
inflammatory. Supporters of the war find the expression of pacifist
sentiments in the current situation simplistic and infuriating. For
better or worse, expressions of U.S. nationalism are inflammatory in the
current situation, as are statements in opposition to American
nationalism. At the extremes, the gulf of misunderstanding is utterly
unbridgeable while the war lasts. People on both sides of the issue
need to simply accept that. Further flame wars serve absolutely no
purpose and are, at this point, driving members away from the list. If
you can't resist the temptation to use inflammatory rhetoric during this
crisis, I ask that you consider abstaining from posting -- or even
reading the list altogether, if that's what it takes -- until the war is
over, the dust has settled and it might be possible for you to come back
to the party with a cooler head.
Greg Burch
Vice-President, Extropy Institute
http://www.gregburch.net
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