From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Mon Aug 18 2003 - 01:32:31 MDT
About a week ago, a contributor of long standing was suddenly
and summarily expelled from this list, an act that seemed to
me capricious and perhaps arbitrary, and for several days after
that, I didn't feel like posting anything. During that time,
I thought that I was just annoyed, and that it would pass.
But my feelings on the matter did not change in the days
following, and I finally figured out why. It was due to
the large number of posts I'd written and threads that I
had started in the past two years extolling to the skies
this list and the people who ran it; the theme of those
many, many posts was that through thick and thin, freedom
of speech had always won out in the end on the Extropians
forum.
I now feel like a fool.
However, I could live with that---after all, one does many
foolish things in life and one gets over it after a while.
But there is something far worse than looking or being
foolish.
I will not be a hypocrite.
My only choices are to either leave this list, or begin a
series of posts taking back all my fine words, renouncing
my praise, and admitting that my perceptions had been wrong,
or else pleading that actions like this never recur, or, etc.
etc.---moves sure to foment controversy and ugly discord (and
which would probably result in my own expulsion anyway).
Any lessons learned? So far, only one: be temperate in your
praise of others, else you will come to feel responsible for
their actions. I hadn't known that.
So anyway, in a single sentence there is no way for me to
communicate the appreciation I have of what I have learned
here, the information I've gleaned, the friendships I've
made, the laughs I've had, or the stimulating, productive,
and entertaining discourse I've been privileged to be a part
of. It's been fun. Good-bye, and good luck to everyone.
Lee Corbin
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