You seem hell bent on hammering in one point, and one point alone. It seems that you believe "silencing" is caused by one set of attributes and only one set. That is nothing more than ... it seriously lacks any ... backing. This almost goes back to the question about preconscious biases. It seems many are present but not being recognised or disclosed as requested.
If I see seventy posts in my mailbox, as I have been for the last several days, am I going to say something? NO. Why, because there is a pretty damn good chance someone or several people have already stated fragments of my opinion, and I see no point in getting off my lazy butt to type it myself when someone already has.
Am I being silenced by the Big Mouths or the "oligarchs" to quote you? NO. (reread that twice, Steve.)
Some persons do not type at ninety words per minute as I do so, I would hypothesise that they will not be as likely to want to throw the entire opinion out in the open because of time issues. That is self silencing in a different form that is the opposite from the fear imposed silencing that has been flaunted as pervasively as Chinese products in the US of A.
I have been on enough lists that have 'oligarchies' to recognise active voices are nothing more than what is in the community in the realistic sense. You have a city council that speaks often. The crowd that occasionally shows up to the meetings and the voters. What you have documented is nothing new. It is nothing more than an extension of a human behaviour already known about with a few fancy words and 30 point type*. Is that aspect of a community an oligarchy too? Are you going to tell me because all 650 people do not chime in to answer a question on an AppleScript list by Apple that the big mouths are silencing them too? Why not study that list and all the other lists that Apple Computer hosts as well? I would quote Dwayne's dictionary definition of oligarchy but then again someone may get mad because Daniel Webster defined the word oligarchy before someone 'wrote' a one hundred page paper and slapped a title on it.
* I should draw reference to a "unique" study done by the University of Madison involving underage drinking among other things...
BTW, Attack Intended, deal with it, Steve Schild, it is called a difference of opinion. I should make what others wrote look like child's play because you have been leaving plenty of material that would make such comments very easy to make. It would make shooting fish in a barrel look like getting out of a wet paper bag.
Please rip me apart because I do not care anymore. If they want to kick me off, so be it. The criticism is long overdue. I will just read letters to the editors in foreign newspapers from Americans which are just as ... to read!
BTW I have a problem with individuals making comments based on studies they refuse to publish publicly. One could refrain from making public comments until one knows whether they will be published and then present. The Bush administration may see this technique as appropriate but to most people it is not. I will repeat the request for a public showing of the data for others to digest at will. This tactic reminds me of Ed McGaa, the pathetic person that tried to hoodwink the Green Party, in a bid for US Senate by trying to campaign solely on "Buy my book It's in there." I joined the opposition early, and he lost big time.
BTW... PDFs on Websites are really handy ways to distribute information. HTML is pretty effective as well but that is another topic.
******************************************** David Dittmann Ask Why?
********************************************
David Dittmann
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Did anyone at the crooked 'E' ever ask, " 'Why' is the 'E' in 'Enron' crooked?"
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