[AT] Thinker

Spencer Yost yostsw at atis.net
Fri Jul 2 20:14:31 PDT 2004


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
John Grant apologized for the post offline - Thanks John - I appreciate it.
 I was going to sent this to him in reply, but but it has been a while
since everyone has seen my reasoning as to why I don't allow political
discussions are banned from this list.  I figured it might not hurt to send
it to the list.

In short, if a post like John's could be followed up with posts resembling
well-articulated discussions by "thinking" individuals instead of the
inevitable downward spiral into inane insults and regurgitations of Rush
and Al Franken, then all would be well and political discussions would be
allowed.  But unfortunately unique and well reasoned opinions are in short
supply in this country and stupid insults are the stock and trade of the
ideological zealots that follow on the heels of posts like this - That is
why I had to ban political discussions on the list.

Johns post, while not a strictly innocent joke as some would like to
believe, was nonetheless pretty tame and harmless and a reasonable, though
slightly idealistic person, might have expected no reaction or a measured
reaction from most folks.  However it spawned, and any realist would have
expected it to spawn, two insults, a "this is political and should not be
here" post, a righteous indignation post, and a "let's all lighten up"
post.  All within half a day!  Civil discourse about politics is nearly
impossible because posts like John's  serve as the crystallization point
for ideological zealots found on both sides.  This isn't just true on this
list: I find this in many areas of media and everyday life.   If the
conversation drifts to ideas and ideals instead of political party planks,
most people are unarmed to continue the discussion so they just get ugly or
mean, or both.  Two traits I abhor and will defend ATIS against.

Just a quick history lesson that I haven't posted in a few years.

Spencer Yost
Owner, ATIS
Plow the Net!
http://www.atis.net





More information about the AT mailing list