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TIM: I'd like to hear comments from more participants about how "safe" they find our forum to post
controversial topics or unpopular ideas.
MARY: In the beginning, I was a little bothered that someone might look me up in the phone book if I spoke out against an issue and come by and put a brick through my window. Happily, that hasn't happened. I think having everyone list their name (or at least what they say is their name) and neighborhood helps keep people aware that their name and their reputation is attached to their posts. That said, there are a lot of strong opinions I have that I wouldn't voice to a someone I expected to have an ongoing relationship with (a neighbor, for example), that I would post here. If I'm strongly against a stadium and my neighbor is strongly for it, it's in my best interest to shut up and not rock the boat. I will live next to this person for a long time. So in that way, having everyone list name and neighborhood suppresses the free exchange of ideas. It's a trade off.
TIM: What effects do you think that personal attacks have in our forum? Do they "stifle discussion" or "keep people honest"?
MARY: Both and neither. I've seen other forums attempt to police members and make them act right. It's very, very hard to do. In general I've been impressed with the maturity and civility on this forum. Even though I regard some of the ideas as crackpot and some of the other posters as advancing hidden agendas (who doesn't?)... most people play nice and I try to do the same. Addressing someone's behavior when they've gone outside the bounds of politeness perversely requires you to make a personal attack on someone FOR the personal attack they made on someone else. Personal attacks don't so much stifle discussion but turn it away from the issues and onto the people. Sometimes the people ARE the issue, though, such as in political races or when we're questioning the decision of a particular public or private citizen.
TIM: Some of us would like this forum to be more respectful and open to ideas than many of the current "live action" venues for political discussion.
MARY: For the reasons I outlined above, it's hard to combine "respectful" and "open to ideas". When I speak, I'm usually mindful of what the other person will do if they disagree with me. In a forum like this, it seems the worst that can happen is that people will think I'm an idiot. Or maybe I'll get banned. But those things aren't bad. If I'm talking to someone face to face, I'll be concerned they might see me park in the supermarket and come over and key my car or let the air out of my tires. Sure, I might not think my support of a pro-abortion policy or an anti-stadium bill would be worth someone doing that, but there are a lot of folks out there who feel the answer to others not agreeing with them is to attack the other. Face to face, I am more easily intimidated by a strong personality and a threatening physical presence than I am over the internet.
Seeing the various members at the anti-stadium meeting last week was interesting. I was uncomfortable when Andy Driscol approached me later and asked who I was. (No criticism on my part, btw, for him doing that.) It was having a bit of protection and cover stripped away. Voicing an opinion in darkness and anonymity is more "comfortable" than voicing one in person. Now someone knows what I look like! LOL. If everyone else in the world were mature, level-headed, respectful people, then my fears would be stupid and out of place. Yet many people who wear the bodies of adults don't share the mentality of one, and many adults who are mature and well behaved on one subject might be given to violence or action on another. Human beings are dangerous critters and by and large my opinion is that they aren't to be trusted until you know them well.
Mary Baker East Side
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