At 10:14 AM 2/9/02 -0600 Marvin Long, Jr. wrote:
> In all other crises, the
>alleged crisis-causer must be aided and abetted by those with whom he
>argues.
I agree.
Let's face it everyone - we've all agreed that Jeroen has acted extremely
inappropriately on this List and numerous occasions. We all agree that we
wish Jeroen would act like other List-Members, who upon realizing that they
have acted inappropriately, would apologize and earnestly try to not repeat
inappropriate actions. We all realize that in Jeroen's case the apologies
are not going to be forthcoming, and that the unsubstantiated and
gratuitous insult of the United States, Israel, and eventually,
list-members defending the United States and Israel is always just a few
places away.
So, as I noted to Adam - when a poster has that kind of record, why don't
we just stop taking the insults especially when made against other list
members - seriously. We know the insult is coming, and we know that the
apology is never coming, so its probably time to stop recognizing his
insults as being of any consequence. I mean, a guy who insults the entire
List for simply believing that List Policy should operatie democratically
instead of authoritarianly, is that really a guy whose opinion matters to us?
Additionally, just about everyone here has stopped taken Jeroen's posts on
Foreign Policy seriously. We know that Jeroen won't bother recognizing
the actual texts of the Oslo Accords when it comes to judging Israel's
actions, so why bother? We know that if the US doesn't attack a nation,
like Kosovo, he'll criticize the US for not getting involved, and when the
US does bomb a nation, he will criticizie the US for being war-mongering
and unilateral, we know that if the US asks NATO allies to help he will
accuse the US of trying to get Europe to fight its battles for it, and we
know that if the US does not ask NATO allies to help, he will accuse the US
of being unilateral (or of not recognizing the contributions of NATO's
allies.) Yes, we know that when it comes to Israel, the facts are
irrelevant, and when it comes to US policy, the only thing that is
consistent about his views is that the US is always wrong. So since
everyone recognizes that Jeroen's views are not to be taken seriously, I
think we all need to recognize the cases when people who are responding to
his views aren't taking him seriously either. And if you do that, I think
that everyone's blood pressure will stay a little lower.
And in the meantime, those of us who enjoy posting on foreign policy on
this List (myself especially here), need to concentrate on making sure that
we devote a large fraction of our political/foreign policy posting time in
responses to posters who can be taken seriously.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Our campaign against international terrorism does not represent some
sort of 'clash of civilizations.' Instead, it is a clash between
civilization and those who would destroy it." -Amb. Richard N. Haass
