Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 14:20:03 -0600
From: Lisa Rogers <EQDOMAIN.EQWQ.LROGERS-AT-email.state.ut.us>
Subject:  bullets and sympathy


Condescension and not having one's arguments taken seriously makes a
lot of people say ouch!  But rudeness can be its own punishment
because it is the rude one who comes out looking bad.  (I'd have a
little more sympathy for Hans Despain if I didn't think he was
getting a dose of some of his own medicine.)  

Bad arguments are easy to combat with argument or can simply be
ignored, but bad manners are never necessary.  Every one can find
someone to look down on, and everyone can find someone else looking
down on them, but it's not very helpful.

If I see something I don't care for, I may state my opinion of the
idea, but I prefer to let it die of neglect.  If nobody had responded
to my posts about interests, individuals, racism and evolution, I
wouldn't be able to carry on those conversations.  Then I would know
that these topics were not of interest to the list, without requiring
a bullet through my head.

I fully expect my ideas to be shot at, and my job is to be prepared
for it and respond to it, in keeping with my scientific ideal that
all ideas must be defensible and none are sacred.  

Just a thought,
Lisa Rogers



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