Moderator for the children

[Guest guest]

Well, children, all conflicts eventually do get resolved, but in the process a

lot of unnecessary damage is done, and people are distracted from the TOPIC at

hand. For continually throwing public darts or defenses at each other, Kees and

Moonbeam should be ashamed of themselves. Most likely they are just angry and

indignant at the public treatment they have received from each other. I am

writing to address this issue in general, to propose a solution, and to ask for

help.

The statistic for cancer is the same in the USA as it is in Europe: 30% will

get cancer and most who do will die from it. The medicos world wide have done

an abominably miserable job at finding cancer cures OR at pushing sane

preventatives with all their might, as they should. If there is any single

group responsible for the cancer plague it is the combined professional medical

and pharmaceutical organizations of the world and their government lobby

stooges. An innocent third party bystander would think there is a massive

conspiracy to perpetuate cancer among the human population.

But the truth is that we are all complicit in the epidemic of cancer because we

keep paying money to those groups or keep voting them and those who are

sycophants to the lobby money into public office. Our own pathetic sence of

ethics is killing us. As Pogo once said, " We has found the enemy and he is us. "

So, the frustration in finding and delivering treatments, and in recommending

preventions for cancer, a frustration we all feel, explodes in unkind words and

thinly disguised malicious finger-pointing. And, not being able to tolerate the

heat of condenscention, or feeling the heat of having been found out to be inept

in some degree, some otherwise good contributors resign from the list in a huff.

What a shame, for all of us grow to respect vocal contributors who are

themselves professional practitioners, and we all feel a sense of loss when they

leave.

I own this list and see myself as responsible for its good health. The list is

a social organism, and it does live and breathe with the life, experience,

personality, and ethics of each of its members. I feel a little high-handed in

excising someone from the list, but I have been known to do it when the person

seemed out of control and recalcitrant to the point of being disgusting. It

takes a lot of weirdness or attitude from someone for me to bounce him off this

list.

I have found that most people have good intentions, and that most disputes are

the result of operating from different bases of information, having different

experiences, harboring different hopes and pet peeves, and/or being impolite.

There is nothing that benefits a list like this more than a sensitivity to the

feelings of the contributors.

Politeness dictates that one respect a fellow's dignity, particularly in public,

for dignity is the summation of the personal presence of one's fellows - it is

the essence of one's acknowledged existence. Being impolite on a list like this

is inexcusable, but I tolerate it because:

1. I know people get frustrated, burn with zeal, are sometimes barely literate

enough to compose or read a message, and are just plain human. I have to cut

them some slack, particularly since they do not know how strongly their emotion

and attitude shows through their written words. We cannot see them smile to

determine their comments are benign.

2. Some people deserve to be put in their place with a sort of whack upside the

head. It is thus sometimes best to allow a little wrangling so the wranglers

can experience their own working out of their own difficulties, an important

facet of dignity.

3. I do not read all the messages, and sometimes ignore them for a week or two.

But the so-called innocent bystanders, and particularly those who search the

archives, have no need to be party to a personal dispute between two members.

All that disputation usually accomplishes little or nothing. And so, I am

proposing that to get the best out of this list, I (or someone else) immediately

put a combative, obnoxious, or impolite member on " moderated " status and cousel

him privately about his list manners. The only problem with this is that I have

other things to do than to teach adult children to mind their manners, AND I am

not always around to do it.

Therefore, I am asking for " permanent " members to volunteer to become

moderators. I do not want a fractious, contentious, obnoxious, know-it-all,

arrogant, uppity, intolerant person to be moderator. I want sleepers, those who

are always here, but do not engage in public dispute.

Will any of you volunteer? We'll see. I am not calling for volunteers to sent

me a private message telling me you are willing. It will be an easy task.

Once I set you as a moderator, you will be able to put any fractious member on

" moderated " status, and all his messages will go to you instead of the list.

You either approve or reject the message. If you do not like the tone of it

because it is insensitive or impolite, you reject it, and then send a note to

the author explaining why and encouraging politeness.

This way, all messages will be polite and no one will get offended and leave in

a huff.

Additionally, I am encouraging all of you on this list to pay attention to

respecting the dignity of others. If you do not like what someone says, attack

the specific allegations and show your reasoning and proof with clarity. Do NOT

attack the person or his integrity AT ALL on this list.

If you cannot tolerate the above rule, then you can email the person privately

and complain to your heart's content PRIVATELY, but do not embroil the members

of this list with your polemical comments.

To all of you who demand a personal confrontation in a PUBLIC forum, send an

email message to

polemy-subscribe

and rave and rage till you are exhausted. Polemy is public formum on which

anyone can complain at anyone about anything till the cows come home.

I am now waiting patiently for volunteers who will be moderators.

Thanks,

Bob Hurt