--- In [email protected], Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
>
> on 4/16/06 3:04 AM, TurquoiseB at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
> > --- In [email protected], Rick Archer
> > <fairfieldlife@> wrote:
> >> 
> >> This idiotic feud will end whenever either of you
> >> decides not to participate in it any more.
> > 
> > Rick, just to make a point before going back
> > to silence on this subject, I haven't replied
> > to a post of Judy's since I said I wouldn't,
> > back on 4/11.  In the future I'll go further
> > and try to avoid commenting on subjects that
> > even a paranoid obsessive might think were
> > about her personally. Other than dropping out
> > of Fairfield Life entirely, I don't see that
> > there is that much more I can do.
> > 
> > If there are comments about the "feud" after
> > this, might I suggest that the commentators
> > pause for a moment or two before posting to
> > notice exactly where the "feuding" posts they
> > are complaining about are coming from?
> > 
> > Then, having determined exactly *who* is perpet-
> > uating the "feud," flame away at that person.
> > 
> > I think that's fair, don't you?
> 
> Sounds fair to me. I'm over 300 posts behind, and I'll probably
> have to delete most of them unread, so I haven't been keeping a 
> tally of who's perpetuating the feud the most. But I get the 
> impression that you're trying harder to end it than Judy is.

Rick, please allow me to help you out here, if you're
at all interested in fairness.

Here's the post that started the most recent exchange
(from message 95224):

----

Look at the basic issue being *ignored* in these
discussions (or the parts of them I see as a
result of killfiles). The basic issue is the
caste system. The original article just DEVASTATED
the concept of the caste system, rather effectively.

So what happened?  A few people tried (successfully)
to DIVERT attention away from the real subject of
the parody -- the caste system and its indefensible
evils -- and get people to focus on whether the
style of the humor was socially acceptable.

As far as I can tell, these attempts WORKED.  In the
posts that I can see, only Shemp kept trying to come
back to the real subject -- the caste system and how
much of an affront to humanity it is.  Other folks
got lured into the DIVERSION, and got lured into
arguing with people who were (essentially) trying
to dictate to them what is permissible as humor and
what is not.

Lesson to be learned from all this:  whenever someone
reacts to a joke by trying to say that the humor in
the joke is politically incorrect or racist or
demeaning, LOOK CLOSER.

Chances are that this is a tactic, a DISTRACTION,
meant to divert attention from the thing that the
joke made people laugh at, and see a new side of.

----

This is from Barry, of course.  And I'm the person
who said that portions of the quote from the Onion
article satirizing the caste system seemed racist.

Barry is clearly attacking *me* for having made that
suggestion, claiming that I was trying to distract
folks from the caste issue.  Note his reference to
his "killfiles."

In his most recent post (quoted at the top), he
claims only a "paranoid obsessive" could possibly
think he was referring to me in the earlier post I
just quoted above that started the current exchange.

That's patently false, and he knows it's false.  (His
claim about my trying to distract attention from the
caste issue is *also* false, and he knows that's false
as well.  In my response to that earlier post, I was
defending myself from that false accusation.)

He's hoping nobody remembers who started it this
time.  But if you actually read the posts, it's clear
he's attempting to deceive readers on this point.

It's understandable that you don't have time to
read all the posts.  But if that's the case, you
can't possibly have any idea of what the situation
is, so it seems to me that you (and anybody else who
hasn't been following the exchanges) are not in a
position to make any determinations about what's
fair and what is not, or who is primarily at fault.

> Byron Katie says there are three kinds of
> business: my business, your business, and God's business. If you 
> look at it that way, I think you can see everything Judy says and 
> thinks as her business, including stuff she says and thinks about 
> you. You have no control over it.

You have no control over what someone else says about
you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be free to
correct the record if what is said about you is false.

Barry portrayed me as trying to distract attention
from the caste issue.  Reasonable people reading his
post might well think he had made a good case and
assume the accusation was true and therefore read
any future posts I make in that light.

If you want to talk about fairness, *that* is quite
egregiously unfair; and it's likewise unfair to tell
me I shouldn't be able to present my side of the story
so people can come to an informed conclusion.

Barry has a long, long history of making such false
accusations against TMers, particularly me, but also
Lawson and anyone who dares to say anything positive
about MMY or the TMO or TM and its teaching.

Barry also has a long, long history of distorting
what has taken place in past exchanges, as he does
here by trying to pretend that he wasn't attacking
me in his earlier post, and that I must be a
"paranoid obsessive" to think he was referring to
me.

Barry is the *last* person on this forum who should
be delivering high-minded speeches about fairness.

> It is what it is. It needn't 
> bother you as long as you don't get involved in it. If both of you 
> were to do this, there would be no feud. If either of you to do 
> this completely, there would be no feud. Only when one
> of you allows yourself to get even a little bit involved in the 
> other's business is fuel added to the fire.

Please note once again that it was *Barry*, not me,
who allowed himself to become involved in "the other's
business" (mine) this time around.

Finally, there is no reason why both Barry and I should
not be able to make substantive comments on each other's
posts when we have something to say about substantive
issues raised in those posts.

That's what this forum is *for*.  If we all were to
follow Byron Katie's advice, nobody would say anything
to anybody about anything.  We'd just make our individual
posts setting out our personal points of view, and there
would be no actual conversation.

The issue is not *that* we "become involved in somebody
else's business," but *how* we become involved.  If we
stick to substance and don't make false accusations and
don't insult one another and try to be objective and
*fair* in our exchanges, there will be no feuds.

Feuds don't exist in a vacuum.  They get started for
a reason, and they're perpetuated for a reason.
Reasonable people don't get involved in feuds when
others do their best to be fair in their communications.

> I don't mean to sound preachy. I hope this is useful advice.

Rick, you clearly mean well, but if you're not informed
about what's actually going on, you aren't likely to be
able to come up with any useful advice.






------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing
http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

To subscribe, send a message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Or go to: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/
and click 'Join This Group!' 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [EMAIL PROTECTED]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


Reply via email to