Mustafa,
Perhaps it would be interesting to you to know the history of this list. It was
originally started in 2002 or 2003 by two members of the American Council of
the Blind. It was started because there was a disagreement among members of the
national organization and the two people, each of whom had important paid
positions with the organization, lost their jobs as a result of the
controversy. So the email list was started so that people could discuss their
feelings about what had happened. Very quickly, other blind people joined the
list who were not involved in the controversy, and some, who were not members
of ACB. The subjects of discussion
Changed. Sometimes people talked about blindness issues. But one person, who
is no longer a list member, began posting articles about political and social
issues. The articles that she posted were different from the ones that people
saw in most newspapers and magazines, and they provided a point of view that
was not often provided on TV or radio programs. Here in America, we would
describe the point of view of most of those articles as "left wing". Little by
little, most of the people whose politics are considered centrist, or right
wing, left the list. But even on the political left, there are many points of
view. The list migrated to a new server when the owner of its original server
died. The original list moderator was no longer interested in the list, and
Roger was kind enough to move the list to Freelists, and to serve as moderator.
The few of us who remain on the list, really do believe that people should be
able to express their thoughts and opinions freely. Because the list is small,
people sometimes discuss personal issues. We still occasionally post articles
and sometimes discuss them, and we do sometimes talk about political issues.
But the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency has been a shock to the
country because of his personality and character, and the negative changes to
our government have escalated since his election. So it is more difficult to
make sense of what is happening, to find rational articles, and to discuss the
issues.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Mostafa
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2018 4:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: ICE Officers to Asylum Seekers: 'Don't You Know
That We Hate You People?'
Miriam,
thank you so much for your message. You are correct about my confusion of
intolerant with intolerable. I indeed am still learning and will endeavor
continue to. Roger, I truly appreciate your respectful response. We certainly
are here to disagree. As for Donald Trump and what he does, when I heard the
Republican's stage demented debate in Las Vegas during election era, I thought,
hmm, perhaps Donald Trump is not the nuttiest after all. They wholly breathe
antipathy, derision and utter bigotry. It is absolutely fine for them to use
media podiums for promoting Islamophobia, Racial Disparity and Xenophobia. The
separation of children scandal is the heaviest substantiation for that. They
viciously take advantage of September eleventh incidents to perpetually justify
their acts of transgression. Well, as for now, I am feted with being here. I at
least converse with edified and sane folks. As for freedom, each and every
culture has its own discernment of what it signifies. Roger has indeed never
banned members based on their opinions and convictions. This is absolutely
quite civil and respectful. This is the reason for which I remained here
despite anything else. For me, freedom is to unrestrictedly opine my
convictions and beliefs while considering not to infract, trespass
or obtrude upon someone's seclusion. If I tolerated jeopardising someone's
private space, I then am running against my own fundamentals. The word freedom
lies beyond merely doing whatever someone desires to do. It involves exercising
politesse and perfunctory courtesy. I think mass American culture flummoxes the
word freedom with defamation. Well, lastly, today was a beautiful day. I ran,
attended Friday service and went out with some pals afterward.
Upon my return to home, I washed the dishes and tidied my room a bit.
Typically during evenings, I am occupied with major domestic chores.
It became sort of a duty after marriage. I again, would like to thank everyone
in this list. I am now immensely urged to engage in further discussions. What
type of subject could we discuss and perhaps derive from it some encouragement
or positive outcome? I am thrilled to interact. Best wishes, Mustafa
On 7/20/18, Mustafa <ebob824@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
To Mr Roger and all, thank you for interacting with my latest thread.
I just would like to follow up with a simple comment. It is totally
fine for me to hear about many Americans despising faith or religious
preaching. But please, do not tell me "we have freedom". This
statement is vastly controversial and uncorroborated. As you have
"Freedom" to be whatever you want to be or say whatever you want to
say, I in return have absolute freedom to methodically refute,
repudiate and criticise your version and apprehension of freedom. I
intellectually decline American conception of portraying liberty. I
typically review what people write here. However, I am constantly
occupied with domestic affairs. I respond when I have time and proper
tendency. I respect what people believe regardless of what that is. I
quite fathom that I am seen here as a stranger. I am Muslim, from
Egypt and thereupon, I am totally different. Perhaps I am the only
blind individual from the Middle Eastern region who dares to verbally
argue with Americans online. As Miriam said and she is right, no one
should expect his conversational peer to alter his convictions.
Thence, we may better treat each other deferentially. I was really
discomfited at the manner by which Mr Roger treated pastor Jason of
Baltimore. They had an invaluable discussion and I was closely
watching their debate until discourtesy has been brought. I previously
made the mistake of targeting individuals with strong and possibly,
unbearable rhetoric rather than constructively criticising their
thoughts. From now on, I decided to totally change my way of
communication. This is an uneasy task but, I am willing to
relentlessly attempt until I inshAllah make a difference. I regularly
compose these posts to incessantly improve my command of written
English. At the same time, I certainly benefit from talking to people
who may have perspectives different than mine. These are two crucial
factors that I am stiffly stick to. I recently reassessed my online
demeaner and sincerely asked myself, shouldn't you be genuinely
respectful and treat others as you like to be treated? I therefore
have sat the subsequent parameters for myself. I'll judge my manner of
treating people online and particularly on this list according to the
standards I inducted to myself. Before you say a word to someone,
think about its import and reflect on its impact if it was said to
you. Second, if you made the mistake of purposelessly dissing at
someone unjustifiedly, don't be afraid to apologise. Apology is of
strength, not impuissance. Third, if someone spoke against your belief
or convictions, don't hasten to make a fuss and just be tolerant. Ask
the person first, if he is interested to receive sort of
clarrification to the matter which you believe he is rather confused
about. Lastly, despite our major differences, I appreciate my
membership of the list. Throughout the long time I spent here, I
recognise that the type of Americans here are totally different from
those I hear about, those who racially and religiously detest me or
the Donald Trump like ones. I mostly interact here with highly
educated individuals, if I compare them to lay people of their local
communities. This is common among blind folks worldwide though. Thank
you so much for patiently reading. It is Friday morning, so
fortuitously, it's the beginning of the weekend here. I am off work
today. Nevertheless, in a little bit, I'll go to join a group of young
folks called Cairo runners. These are young people who regularly
gather to run at Cairo's unoccupied streets on Friday morning. Cairo
is a busy city, except for today and in particular, in the morning of
Friday. So, I better hasten, if I do not want to miss them.
On 7/18/18, R. E. Driscoll Sr <llocsirdsr@xxxxxxx> wrote:
All: Please do not confuse me with your facts my mind is already made up!
Richard
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 17, 2018, at 10:43 PM, Mostafa <ebob824@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mr
