From: Gary F. York (gfyork@mchsi.com)
Date: Tue Apr 10 2007 - 10:04:54 MDT
Kevin,
kevin.osborne wrote:
> look I just love the ever-present 'elephant in the room' in just about
> every situation we hu-mans (ref: dieselsweeties.com) find ourselves
> in, be it man/woman (would he take you out more if your ass was
> smaller? yes. would she put out more if you had a six-pack and an
> 8-incher and weren't balding? yes. ) or socio-political (why does
> public education suck? because we're too stingy to pay teachers a fair
> wage. everything else is sooo ignoring the elephant).
You might want to avoid the 'socio-political' references here -- for a
couple of reasons:
1. they're an engraved invitation to roam off-topic for the SL4 list, and
2. It's a very good bet that this list is comprised of people from both
sides of the conventional political spectrum and (certainly) from people
well outside it as well.
By asserting that anyone who doesn't share your expressed view regarding
the cause of educational failure "is sooo ignoring the elephant", you
have essentially said, "Anyone who disagrees with me is (selectively or
willfully) blind." That's just about as blatant as saying, for
instance, "Anyone here who's not a democrat is a stupid weenie!"
I doubt that you expect everyone here to share your technological views
or that you are prepared to disparage and revile anyone who doesn't;
please understand that your socio-political ideas are perhaps even less
likely to be completely shared and that this list is not the forum for
debating them. It's rather like subjecting someone to ridicule knowing
that they're not allowed to respond.
That said, there is at least one situation here where a reference to
your socio-political position would be on-topic: where you preface
certain SL4 appropriate comments by _self_ identifying your own
socio-political stance -- so that others on the list may be aware that
_you_ might be wearing 'blinders' in a particular area. For instance,
on the issue of an AI, even a Friendly one, making choices and imposing
them on others, I might say, "Of course, as a libertarian, I tend to
disparage all forms of coercion or at least want to look very closely at
what may be more of an issue for me than others."
IF you had said, "... or socio-political (why does public education
suck? [Well, I'm a democrat, of course I believe it's ] because we're
too stingy to pay teachers a fair wage. everything else is sooo ignoring
the elephant). " In that way you endear yourself to others by being
willing to poke a little fun at yourself, show that you're aware that
others may have different views, and do not in the least invite
refutation (and an endless off-topic thread).
Best,
G.
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