>I've been away for a few days...so bear with me if I am re-hashing an old
>discussion.
>
>I was frankly a little shocked at the the response to Joy's communication of
>a couple of weeks ago--the one that sparked the accusations by Mary and Kylie
>of classism, among other things. Kylie wrote: "that is classism. This is
>not flame bait. Flame bait is when I say something that is personal about
>you and I am not
>I am saying that your words belie your classist belief system. I just want
>you to either acknowledge that you are classist or rethink your position
>vis a vis wages."
Wendy, this was in response to Joy saying that some people deserved more
money than others. This means she believes that some people should have a
higher standard of living. What do you call this? If I see an animal that
is warm blooded, suckles its young and gives birth to live young - I call
it a mammal. Do you think it would be offended?
>
>This comes across as incredibly arrogant. The responses in general to what
>appeared to me to be a part of a thoughtful discourse on Joy's part seemed
>way out of line. BTW, your comment of "I genuinely feel very sad for you"
>sure sounds like flame bait to me.
Well it wasn't.
>
>Kylie also wrote: 'How dare you say that some people contribute virtually
>nothing..." I recall one post (by either Mary or Kylie--sorry I sometimes
>have trouble following the multiple replies) which flatly stated that
>politicians contribute practically nothing. Kylie I think you also described
>your own job as much more valuable than that of politicians. You are doing
>the same thing you accuse Joy of.
>
>It seems to me that when someone on this list tries to inject a little
>reality into the discussion about a utopian or greatly improved society
>(relative to what we live in), she gets slammed. In fact, by shutting down
>this facet of the discussion we/you hinder progress toward improvement, and
>essentially reduce the entire discourse to a 'group whine.'
>
>Kylie--you wrote that you know of a company where the secretary and managing
>director get paid the same and "they all work harder and have more pride in
>thier work than others in similar positions." I was intrigued by this; as
>someone who generally tries to think through how societal change can occur I
>have been stumped at the prospect of how we move from great economic inequity
>to less without stiflying individual freedoms and without the use of
>violence. I was dissappointed at your response to Carol's request "Could you
>write an article about this magnificent company? I am sure it needs to be
>heard by the universe": with "I don't have any other details at present and
>I am not in a position to write an article."This was almost dismissive--as
>if the request was not worthy of your attention.
I don't think Carol would have read my reply in this fashion. If I don't
have the information I'm not in a position to write more on the subject.
Would you prefer I made it up?
In fact something like this
>could be the kind of thing that has great value for actually doing something
>about the [flawed] society we live in.
>
>regards,
>
>Wendy
Respectfully,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Interesting: Your people glorified organised violence for 40 centuries,
but you imprison those who employ it privately."
Mr Spock. Star Trek 'Dagger of the Mind'
