simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard) (10/14/84)
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Essay: net.politics.tennis
There is a fascinating tennis match underway here on net.politics. It
starts, say, with a serve from the player on the left: "The U. S. support
for someone like Marcos is immoral!" The player on the right deftly returns
the serve: "If you think that's bad, you should look at the record in
postwar Vietnam!" And on it goes, each side earnestly playing its best, lob-
bing the issue back and forth over the net (the double-entendre is entirely
intentional).
Like tennis, there are singles matches, and doubles matches; in this
case, however, the number of players on a given side can increase without
any real limit. Also, something like football, players leave and are
replaced with others who carry on the battle.
net.politics.tennis also has it personalities. There are the sober,
reserved players to quietly display their talents, such as they are, in
play. Then there are the McEnroes of the net: the boisterous, flaming types
who seem unable to distinguish between a criticism of their views and of
themselves as persons. They pepper their playing with shouted invective and
noisy complaint that those who disagree with them are irrational, unin-
formed, thoughtless puppets of someone-or-other who, if they would only open
their eyes a little, would suddenly be on the other side.
And, like tennis, there are winners and losers. Scoring, however, is
done a bit differently. Issues such as those getting lobbed across the net
are rarely-to-almost-never discussed at length without revealing something
worthwhile on both sides. The winners of this game are the ones who can
stand by their principles while at the same time permitting themselves to
acknowledge valid points from the other team. They are the ones who who are
willing to rethink a question, and yet are not afraid to support and vali-
date their positions when appropriate.
Which kind of player are you?
--
[ I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet ]
Ray Simard
Loral Instrumentation, San Diego
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