----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 9:17 AM Subject: Re: Br!n: On the Saudis
> Taking off my list manager hat... Are you saying that there are victims > of David's criticism who have behaved better than he has, so if I ask > for clarification from them, I should also ask him? His "flair for the dramatic" can be very insulting. I get by very easy because I'm a Kerry voter who thinks that his comments on Bush are akin to those of my dear departed aunt and uncle who were Birchers and convinced that JFK and IKE were both closet communists. He has pretty well stated that this is a bit rhetorical. Standing a bit to the side, it is hard to imagine statements that the ~50% of Americans who will vote for Bush are 1) Crooks 2) Throwbacks 3) Idiots or combinations thereof as anything but inflammatory. I feel that the overwhelming majority of Bush supporters are patriotic Americans who happen to be picking the greater of two evils this election. I think that they are mistaken. I don't see how calling those that differ with you idiots is helpful in maintain dialog. I know as a fact, I work extremely hard when I write to push my dialog with David into a more fact filled area. Even so, what I write is called idiotic....but at least I am rewarded for my work with some acknowledgment at the end that it was a bit over the top. BTW, I took Erik's comments on this to heart, when I posed an earlier question. Having argued with alternate thinkers on sci.physics, I really don't mind this: I find it an enjoyable challenge in many ways. But, since my ox isn't getting gored, this is a hill instead of a mountain for me to climb. I find myself arguing someone I think is a bad president is simply a bad president, not a traitor...so my stakes are more analytical than heart felt. (I'm roughly assigning odds of 10^-6 that GWB is actually a traitor). Also, David is an award winning writer. He has the ability to be very insulting without technically insulting someone. If it were someone who was not so good with words, I'd think that poor writing might be the source of the problem. But, I know skill when I see it; and I don't think the overtones are accidental. A quick example of this is, after Gautam said he was a neocon, repeatedly insulting the neocons and then claim that he never insulted Gautam. Finally, Gautam is right in that I, at least, treat David differently than I do any other list member. After the incident around the time I responded to his flame like I would respond to any other flame, I decided that I needed to treat the name member of this list was to be differently than any other member. So, I bend over backwards to gently nudge instead of calling him out. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
