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- Path: sparky!uunet!uunet.ca!xenitec!tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca!noncomf!pmarlowe
- From: pmarlowe@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (philip marlowe)
- Newsgroups: alt.angst
- Subject: Re: twirps and calm (was logic confounding people unclear on the con
- Message-ID: <B9eyXB7w165w@noncomf.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 17:34:34 EST
- References: <dsmither.727914490@cunews>
- Distribution: world
- Organization: darkpark
- Lines: 102
-
- > Well, listen Phil, I am not going to try to deny my particular point
- > of entry into this newsgroup - if this were a group full of
- > hermes-types, or even had enough of them to throw the balance into
- > uncertainty about whether this is alt.theatrical posturing or
- > alt.angst, I wouldn't bother; there are just so many other places I
- > can find that kind of thing. It's fine if that's what one wants and
- > expects (and sometimes I enjoy it), but from what I can see it doesn't
- > seem to be the raison d'etre for this group. And I am thankful for
- > that. I haven't yet had to cry on anyone's shoulder here, but I think
- > that if I did have a problem that I felt people here could help me
- > with, I would post it here, rather than to, say alt.peeves or
- > alt.fuckyou.
-
- Yeah, but does that give you (or anyone else) the right to act as the
- alt.angst vanguard? Snapping at Hermes would probably do the trick, and
- if not, well, that'd what kill files are for.
-
-
- > > Well...the nagging doubt whenever I read anything here is "What if
- > >he/she's a liar, and is playing me for a fool?". Terribly irritating if
- > >one's been feeling sorry for a practical joker now, isn't it?
- >
- > And shouldn't it be? In my *life* I have never met a person that enjoys
- > being taken for a ride.
-
- You miss my point. Sure, that sucks, but short of mob-violence
- totalitarianism, there isn't much that can be done about something like
- that.
-
-
- > > That's where your...ah...victim comes in. If ONE person can try to play
- > >us, all certainties go out the window, and alt.angst becomes a colder
- > >place. Thing is, to blame all of this complex reaction on one annoying
- > >user really isn't fair, since you're attributing structural faults of
- > >this newsgroup to a buffoon who inadvertently exploits them.
- >
- > I agree with you in some respects, but I also think that you are
- > collapsing some things together. The medium (which is written rather
- > than spoken) makes it particularly easy for people to do a hermes,
- > because it can be difficult to get a sense of people. However, I
- > think that there is a difference between talking of "structural
- > faults" and blaming hermes for this complex reaction in the sense you
- > describe: "A" lies; reaction in group member due to Honesty Code
- > infraction - A is tried and convicted of Honesty Code offense; A is
- > implicitly blamed, through complicated discursive constructions, for
- > eliminating all certainty and wrecking the group.
-
- But that'd just be propping up a collapsing system. Hermes is obvious --
- others are not. Hell, *I* could be an escaped mass murderer who's just
- talking to you in hopes of somehow wheedling an address out of you so
- that I would be able to hunt you down and kill you (whew!). Just 'cause I
- say it ain't so is not proof at all.
- Besides, what do you mean by "tried"? By whom? alt.justice.tribunal?
- alt.angst.lynch-mob?
-
-
- > I still reserve the right to evaluate a hermes and feel that it is
- > not a positive and productive addition to the group and respond to
- > her with my opinions about that. I mean, of course it was happening
- > within a group that I have certain ideas about what I want to get from
- > it, but I think that what you really didn't like about my postings was
- > how strong my reaction was to her, and that's fine, but it's different
- > from what you are saying.
-
- Nope. Me, I've been accused many times of being nasty, abrasive, or just
- plain vindictive, and these charges have not always been without grounds.
- Be angry at Hermes, by all means...just don't confuse her with the REAL
- problem.
-
-
- > Actually, I only posted two angry posts and had said as much that I
-
- Heh. Only two? You certainly packed a lot into those, then.
-
-
- > wasn't going to bother posting any more to her. And if I overreacted,
- > I think it's mainly because I hadn't dealt with a moron like that
- > before and was not able to be The Voice of Rationality, Reason, and Calm
- > which I presume would have received higher marks. In the future, I
- > will probably try to be more careful, and if mine were the
- > only angry posts this group ever saw, I might accept your reprimand.
- > I find it pretty hard to stay calm when people are doing things I
- > really take exception to.
-
- Yeah...hell, I was chuckling at the venom in your diatribe. What made me
- want to correct you was your motivation.
-
-
- > But on the melodrama scale, I am pretty darn skeptical that
- > anything I said was so inflammatory and divisive that it will "burn
- > us all up along with the two(?) of you".
-
- Why not? We're STILL discussing it...and NOT posting angst. I've seen
- things like this get MUCH worse.
- > Diane
-
- marlowe
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
- "Groovy."
- -Evil Dead II
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-