Judging by comments from John and Gautam recently, they do feel excluded sometimes, and surrounded at others. Being the social animals we are it is difficult to carry on when pressured like this.
I'm not making comparisons to other situations where even more intestinal fortitude would be required.
Don't read too much into my comments. I'm not making them out to be superheroes. But I do think an appreciation of "what it's like" for the other guy is a bit more than moderately useful.
True enough. Except, this is a purely voluntary list, and it's pretty sociable anyway. No matter how vehement the debate gets, and even if it gets a bit personal, there's still nothing at stake here. I don't know either John or Gautam personally - as far as I'm aware, I've never met either - but if I did, I'm sure I'd like them personally even though I disagree almost totally with their politics. If we can't really mix it up and take the gloves off when we start kicking our ideas back and forth - if we can't do that HERE, where CAN we do it? So what if sometimes someone feels a bit bruised or thinks they're the only defenders of Truth against a horde of the iniquitous? I feel that way pretty much all the time, in fact, as a liberal, Democratic Jew. Life sucks, the universe doesn't give a sh*t about you or your tender feelings, and this is all supposed to be just in fun anyway.
Tom Beck
"I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never thought I'd see the last." - Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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