DEVOSCM@RUG.NL (Marco de Vos, Kapteyn Lab Groningen) (01/13/90)
Dear all (and I mean all, not just the ones that are on "my line"),
A week ago, I had a meeting with some guys, and somehow we got to discussing
the way American newspapers and magazines talk about christians. Now I don't
know a thing about those mags, so I kept silent (difficult job, of course,
but very often useful). No one of my friends (call him Terry) mentioned that
most newspapers were extremely negative about christians/christianity. Then
the other (call him Rogier) mentioned a couple of interviews with christians
he had recently read in Times Magazine. Then all of a sudden I realised that
the discussion turned into discussing "how christian" the people being
interviewed were. When I mentioned that to Terry and Rogier they both were
suprised. That's interesting. I mean, whatever Terry thought about those
people, both the interviewer and Rogier thought them pretty normal christians,
so the judgment over them was irrelevant to that stage of the discussion.
Why do I tell you this story? Just as a warning. The main reason why this
discussion escaped the sidepath of judging people, was that I don't read
Times Magazine etc. So I was not in the discussion, and was able to notice
the change. On the List, we are (more or less) all in the discussions.
And I'm afraid we all too soon change subject, going from a really
interesting discussion into some sidepath (wrt the discussion) of judging.
I'm not completely sure, because I have to delete most mail after reading.
I don't know what makes human being always try to judging others. It looks
like it's the normal way for discussions to go (don't think this is limited
to christians discussing this kind of topics, I also noticed it in discussions
about user-interfaces in our software group).
But I would be very glad if we (being christians, not supposed to choose the
"normal" way) could try to avoid it.
I recognise the wide spectrum of views expressed on this list. Some of them
are definitly NOT mutually excluded (though it may seem so), others are.
I am trying to respect all opinions expressed on the list. I'm sure I'm not
the only one who tries. But I would kindly ask all to try. It's the least we
can do. Respecting doesn't mean sharing, or being happy with. But it allows
us to keep discussions clean of judging people.
If we want to get anything useful out of this list that goes beyond expressing
our private opinions, we will have to be careful with each other, and with each
others opinions. And watch the way our discussions go.
Marco.
PS: I'm thinking of your suggestions Bill, thanks for posting the rape-stuff.
PPS: Thanks for your posting on the prostitution-stuff, Anne. I didn't know
things were that bad (sorry if my reply was a bit brusque, I just want
to know sources and things on important subjects like these).