I'm not sure how many people actually read this sadly depleted list. A few
of us keep on posting, most likely to fill our own needs for self
expression. Once in a great while, Bob Hachey, Penny, or Frank posts a
message. Richard comments briefly, upon occasion. But we have two people who
basically dominate the list. Roger is our instructor-in-chief. He
consistently instructs us in logic, and keeps our thoughts and language
usage within, what he believes to be, appropriate boundaries. Carl is our
loving and gentle preacher. It is not traditional religion that he preaches,
but a gentle version of what Roger is attempting to teach. Roger enjoys
debate. Carl never argues and is always kind and thoughtful. It's kind of
like, "good cop, bad cop". Roger and I post articles. Carl is supportive by
always commenting on our articles, although I'm not sure that he gets time
to read many of them. It's a kindness because of he didn't comment, neither
of us would know if anyone bothered to read what we post. Most people aren't
interested or they just get turned off by the occasional arguments. Few
people are left from the original list and our recent visitors appear to
have left. Evan left because, as he told me, he just doesn't like to spend
time arguing. I come across some articles that seem really interesting and
that are very different from what is available from mainstream websites, and
I can't resist posting them in case there's some lurker who would benefit
from reading the article and who wouldn't know that it existed, if I didn't
post it. But I do wonder, sometimes Unlike our two white male leaders, who
pretend that they're not leading, I don't particularly enjoy teaching or
preaching. I'm also a rebellious soul so I have issues with having my
wayward thoughts and emotions, corrected. But I suspect that most people
feel that way. Most people like to express their thoughts and feelings and
they can usually tolerate a gentle disagreement. Carl and I, for example,
will never agree about how to define class. But it doesn't matter. We just
occasionally disagree. I've learned from listening to podcasts on which I
hear younger people talk, and also from articles, that the battles and
insults on twitter are a whole lot worse than most of the really angry
interchanges we've had on this list. I guess that's one of the down sides of
technology.
Miriam
