On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 08:52 -0500, Alex Dean wrote:
> This isn't because I don't care about politics, culture, law, and
> other issues which come up. (I've responded to a few of those kinds
> of threads, but more often I end up deleting a half-written response
> which doesn't say what I want it to.) I mainly avoid those threads
> because I think an email list is a pretty poor place to have real
> discussions of complex issues like this. A format like this serves
> mainly to let people trumpet their pet theories and bicker
> unproductively without actually hearing each other. Those among us
> who want to talk in more depth about those kinds of things would be
> better off making plans to get together in person regularly.
> (Stammtisch, anyone?)
>
> It's fun to argue politics! It's just not fun to do it online. The
> kinds of nuance you can fit into a face to face discussion are
> infinitely superior to email.
----
I don't have any desire to debate politics on PLUG. Some of them are
related to Linux but clearly some are not. Issues of culture and law
that are discussed on this list are probably more closely related to
Linux.
The only reason I ever get involved in the political discussions on this
list is simply to challenge those who seem determined to spout their
media driven views to the list because I cannot allow them to go on
endlessly unchallenged.
I personally don't see any reason for differences between meeting in
person or meeting in lists for these discussions with one exception,
when you are in person, you can walk away and on a list, you have to
delete the messages because they are delivered.
For the most part, I disagree that it is fun to argue politics anywhere.
I am too often disappointed by people who get their information from
cable news and/or talk radio and think that they are somehow informed.
Craig
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