jj@alice.UUCP (05/06/85)
Well, after all the hate mail, I sat around a while and thought about the subject. The first thing that became quite clear was that the tactics used by those who disagreed, "I hope the JDL blows up your house", "your dog will die tonight", "I hope you choke on your teddy bear", "alice!jj called Gerry Ferraro a beaver" (I'm still waiting for that retraction, Mr. L... <tap, tap, tap>), and the like were clear efforts to silence me, using threat, libel, and whatever other dishonesty that was immediately available. It seemed that I proposed getting on with life, when in fact, many people do not WANT to get on with life (and peace), and would rather fester old wounds and make war. The second thing, made clear after re-reading my articles and the replies, is that most of the objectors didn't even read the article (or at least the whole article), before they attacked its author (it's notable that only a few attacked the article, and even fewer <hello, mf, did you get my second reply?? icarus is down> actually showed signs of having read the article). There are a few interpretations to this, the one I choose to take (it being the least presumptive of evil), is that the wounds left in those individuals have not yet healed. (I must comment that the visible antagonism is clearly not conducive to healing, therefore, I feel that my presumption of the least evil might, in fact, be justified.) Given the terrorist tactics of the net.politics population, I hereby make two suggestions: 1) Net.politics is no longer (if it ever was), a free forum for discussion. My SO and I (I don't have a dog) certainly don't feel it is, at least. 2) If the individuals who wish to participate in net.politics cannot regulate themselves (including putting down those who attack people and threaten them), then net.politics has no use, and should be deleted, in order to remove its utility for those who occupy it through the use of threat and slander. Don't send me mail, my mailbox (at least the ones that the net knows about) are again linked to /dev/null. Those to whom I've sent mail should use their 'r' command, I'll get mail by that exact path. -- DO TEDDY BEARS HAVE OPINIONS? ASK YOURS TODAY! "My mind is clearer now, at last, all too well, I can see, where we all, soon will be.." (ihnp4/allegra)!alice!jj