On Sun, 24 Jun 2001, John D. Giorgis wrote:
> Finally, this criticism of turning Brin-L into a "debating society" rather
> than a "pub-style competition has been raised before, but I am not sure at
> all that I understand it. I have simply been doing what I have been doing
> since my first days on the List - attempting to present conservatism in the
> most convincing way possible. If someone can differentiate for me the
> difference between how I have presented right-wing opinions with the way
> that others have presented left-wing opinions, I would certainly be most
> interested in listening.
I think I tried to do a little of that earlier, but there is something I'd
like to add: I think it's absurd to suggest that John or Gautam or any
other conservative Brin-L member (there are some more, as I recall) pushes
their opinions any more forcefully or relentlessly than than the list's
liberals. If it seems that way, maybe it's because they receive a lot
more dissenting responses than your average liberal listmember and have to
write more posts defending themselves if they don't want to feel like
they've given in or buckled under.
An interesting phenomena: now and then somebody complains about the fact
that a thread exists, but often it doesn't stop the complainer from
actually contributing to that thread. After all, one feels obliged to
present one's version of the truth, even if it's annoying to have to do
so. If you're a liberal and grant yourself the freedom to act on such an
obligation, then let's not deny a conservative (or libertarian, or
communist, or anybody else) that same privilege--more to the point, let's
not deny the compelling reality of that obligation as felt by another
person who happens to have a different point of view.
Marvin Long
Austin, Texas
