peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley) (04/08/84)
[take a line-eater to lunch]
After receiving about a dozen replies to my question "Has this group changed
your mind?", I can present a few interesting answers. They fall into two
classes: comments on abortion, and comments on material in net.abortion.
Not one person reported having been "converted" from one side to the other
on the basic question of whether abortion should be allowed or not. One
person, however, changed from "undecided" to "yes" on the specific question
of whether abortion should be allowed if the mother's health is endangered
by the pregnancy. Many replied "yes" to my weaker question-- "have you
found things of interest that might modify your opinion somewhat?". Some
said that they would have a somewhat harder time making a decision on an
abortion for themselves, but added quite emphatically that they consider
it *their* decision. One said that they wished that better birth control
would make it a non-issue.
I was amazed by the degree of consensus on the opinion that many articles
in the group are "silly". In fact, the very word "silly" was used by 4 or
5 different people. For example, one person indicated frustration at
having to wade through a lot of silliness to see the few gems. The second
most popular comment in this class was that the material alerted them to
"proto storm-troopers" and "people to watch out for" on the net. This was
given by 2 or 3 people. Finally, one person expressed regret that no-one
has discussed personal cases of abortion, with all the discussion being
rather abstract and too impersonal.
According to the survey, this group isn't changing peoples' minds on the
issues and many people consider a lot of the material to be plain silly.
The few articles that aren't (no-one said what kinds of articles these
are) seem to be considered quite seriously.
Thanks very much to all who replied.
peter rowley, University of Toronto Department of C.S., Ontario Canada M5S 1A4
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