fiatlux@ucscc.UCSC.EDU (David Vangerov) (07/21/88)
Well, I must say that this has been the most interesting 3 hours I have spent procastinating. Such a wide range of opinions and manners. This discussion once again proves that this is a very diverse world we live in and for every opinion there seems to be an equal and opposite opinion. Ain't mankind great? Oh, maybe I shouldn't use "man" when using mankind, as some women seem to really get upset at the use of that pronoun/noun/whatever. I've got just a few brief comments about this whole thing. When I consider what this whole thing is about I come to the inescapable (hey come back here! :-) conclusion that both Mark and the people who have given her a bad time are acting like total dipshits. I've noticed that people on USENET (as well as on other assorted BBS's) tend to become unthinking unrational people who spout off at the least little thing (though some people have much less of a tendency to do this). Mark has a right to her opinions and to bring them to the world. That's what USENET is for, isn't it? To provide a forum for a free exchange of ideas, right? However, it is the manner in which you do this that makes a lot of difference in the long run. When looking at Mark's postings in retrospect, you ocassionaly find a gold nugget of an idea in amongst what most people would call bullshit. However, saying that all men are rapists just doesn't seem to jive to well with me. I'm a man, and I can't ever see myself doing that. The fact of the matter is that all PEOPLE are POTENTIAL rapists. While it's true that in most rape cases it's the man who rapes the woman, there's nothing preventing a man from raping a man, a woman raping a man or a woman raping another woman. The gender of the person doing the raping has nothing to do with the gender of the person getting raped. Anyways, back to the discussion at hand. Mark may have said some pretty outrageous things on the net. That's fine with me, Mark has a right to her opinions. But the people who responded to her postings did not have to respond in whatever way they did (I don't profess to know everything about what has been going on with MES and the net). Like I said, somehow all rationality seems to go out the door as soon as that 'F' key is hit and soon we are getting into nasty name calling and then eventually lawsuits. What you say is just important as how you say it. From the sounds of things, both Mark and whoever have not been exactly using the nicest of tones when responding to eachother's articles. I really don't care who started the name calling, I just wish it would stop. USENET is a great thing, I really like it, but I would hate to see what would happen to it if it got involved in a lawsuit. I don't think anybody on the net wants to be involved in a test case involving USENET, what get's posted on it and the validity of those postings in a court of law. It would be rather interesting to see USENET get discussed in the paper or on Nightline, but I don't think it would be such a great idea. I guess what this all boils down to is that I see that both parties have been acting childish and immature and should make up and play nice. From the sounds of it, this ain't gonna happen. Mark has a right to her opinions just as her detractors have a right to their opinions, but when those opinions start moving over to name calling and such, then they don't belong on the net. If anything they belong either in e-mail or nowhere at all. Well, I guess that's it for me. I don't profess to be a great net.god of rationality, but that's how I see things. And judging by what I've seen on the net, someone will agree with me and someone won't, but that's life on the big net. Oh well, sorry for the length... +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | David Vangerov | | Just your average Theater Arts major with a weird thing for computers | | fiatlux@ucscc.BITNET || fiatlux@ucscc.ucsc.EDU || ...!ucbvax!ucscc!fiatlux | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+