Open Letter to Surfacehippy!

[Guest guest]

OPEN LETTER to Brewster and all the rest of the Surface Hippies,

I ask you all to please bear with me on this topic for a moment. I will try

to be succinct and not waste too much of your time now, but I feel that this

is an extremely important issue which effects, at least the effectiveness of

this board, if not it's very credibility and, or ultimate survival in it's

current open format.

At this point in history, I feel compelled to add my perspective on This

whole " THR vs ReSurface " controversy. Specifically concerning one particular

individual on the " Totally Hip " site. The following quotes were taken out of

context from this panel and it frankly does not matter in the least who is

their author. They were chosen solely because they exemplify an atmosphere

of aprehension which currently exists here, in what has come to be our home

away from home. "

> " ...this board is invaluable to those who are searching for

information... "

"

" Wow! If just one " totallyhipster " can so upset this proverbial

applecart,... "

I would never presume to dictate how other human beings should think or how

to run their lives. That is solely the responsibility of each individual. I

do not like to proselytise, and I believe it pointless to preach to either

the choir, or the deaf. There does seem

to be quite a bit of unfounded speculation re. the motivations of some

people involved primarily with the Totally Hip site.

I like to think of myself as being fairly objective, but recently, I found

myself also caught up in a web, of assumption that I knew something about

someone who, in reality, I knew absolutely nothing about. My presupposed

concept was based upon inuendos presented by sources who also knew nothing

of the individual in question. I believe there is a word for this, and it is

called Prejudice. Mob mentality also comes to mind. It almost seems as

though a competition or fervently religious " Holy War " was developing

between some, but certainly not all, of the people on both sides of a

ficticious line deviding thr THR group and the Resurface group. It is a

variation of the " my God's bigger & better than your God " game. You

obviously can reverse the letters in the subject word and have it be dog,

but the inherent psychology is the same. I believe that most, if not all of

this was based on misunderstandings and paranoia. For instance Dawkins

recently posted that he remembers someone calling Mr. Feldman " the village

idiot " . No one called Mr. Feldman " the village idiot " . That was taken out of

context and misinterperated. That, is at least partially my fault as I wrote

those words. At the time however, I did not mean to imply, that I considered

Mr. Feldman to be an Idiot. Far from it. It was a poorly chosen word in a

poorly structured sentence in which I was trying to make the point that a

lot of people seemed to be " ganging up " on one helpless individual. I could

have just as easily said " kick the dog " , or " trip the cripple " to the same

effect. I fear that last one would have offended people even more. My

intention at the time was to denote my personal disdain for bullying in any

form, by using satire in the hopes of not offending the members of this

board. That was a mistake. Mr. Feldman is by no means helpless, but he was

not a party to the forum in which his reputation was being attacked. That

renders him unaware of the ammunition being stock piled in anticipation of a

future psychological attack against him. That is unfair. I believe that

many people had absolutely no ill intentions but became caught up in the

game. For Mr. Feldman, however, it was not a game. He was innocent and

ernest and he was set up for target practice. In some sense that remark I

made makes me at least partially responsible, because it was not clear and

straightforward enough in it's presentation, even though it's interpretation

was not my intention. Mistakes can and do happen all too often. For that I

am genuinely and deeply regretful. I will attempt to phrase my intentions

more clearly and accurately in the future.

Anyone on this panel who has read the writings of both Geoffrey Feldman and

myself will immediately realize that we have widely divergent writing

styles. They could almost be described as polar opposites. If we are

witnessing

the same phenomnon we will see it from different viewpoints or angles. If

his angle on describing an observation could be referred to as acute, mine

would have to be called be obtuse, yet we are describing exactly the same

thing.

An anology would be of two people looking out portholes on opposite sides of

a submarine. They are obviously looking at the same ocean, but they see two

different sets of details. By comparing notes, they can both get a clearer

visualization of the whole. That is essentially the goal of both of these

two boards. To help each other see the truth.

I do not know how many of you have actually communicated with Mr. Feldman

directly. My guess would be not many. I therefore propose that any

statements made concerning his intentions or integrity may be based on

incomplete data and assumptions rather than fact, and quite possibly are

inaccurate, if they are made by individuals without firsthand knowledge.

Some of you have expressed a concern over the possibility of receiving a

dreaded personal letter from " Geoffrey " . I did indeed receive such a

personal letter from Geoffrey a few days ago. At first I was going to ignore

it and relegate it to the dead letters file. Then I thought better of it and

replied directly to him on a personal level. I am glad that I did.

Geoffrey and I have been involved in direct personal communication for the

last three days. In actuality for several hours a day, and have written

many long correspondences back and forth. I feel that I have gotten to know

him fairly well as we have both been extremely candid in our thoughts,

hopes, fears and observations on life in general.

After the first time I actually visited the TH site to see for myself what

several people were getting so distressed about, I reported back that I

actually liked and admired the guy. After getting to know him personally, I

can now truthfully say that I like him even more and still admire him and

his integrity. In my personal opinion, which is the only one I am qualified

to give, Geoffrey is an intelligent, witty, erudite, honest, sensitive, and

compassionate human being. He has a great sense of humor and shows actually

quite a bit of restraint under the circumstances. Quite possibly more than I

would. He has no sinister plot in mind to uncerimoniously shut down the

surfacehippy site based on ideology. He would appreciate not being

personally attacked and harrassed by what has come to be a mob, simply

because they don't like his opinion. He is a man of integrity, who has only

the best interests at heart. He reports on things and shares his aquired

knowledge, to the best of his ability openly and freely. He does not post

things maliciously, or that he knows to be false in order to promote an

agenda. He does post his opinions under his own name. We may or may not

agree with what he has to say, but he absolutely has the right to say it. He

does not come onto the surfacehippy site and engage in intellectual combat

with those who do not share his opinion. Some of whom attack him personally,

by name, on a site in which he has no presence or opportunity to defend

himself. Whereas, some unnamed individuals, becuase they choose to use an

anonymous web name still continue to attack him. I could not say if they

belong to this group or the TH group or no group at all. That does not

really matter. However it is an act of cowardice and is no better than

terrorism. I personally hold very little respect for any who would engage in

such activity, and they deserve to be sanctioned.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not defending Geoffery Feldman. He is

perfectly capable of defending himself. I am just suggesting that perhaps we

should forgo the seemingly endless round of back slapping and backstabbing,

which tends to differientiate

and separate us from each other, and creates a " Them vs Us " mentality, when

in reality we are all " US " with the same goals, the same hopes and the same

fears.

The Surfacehippy site and the Totally Hip are indeed different sites with

totally different flavors and different viewpoints, but we all have one

common goal. The education, reassurance, help and comfort for those in need

of any or all of anything we have to offer. We are a family. All of us.

Every member of both groups.

In conclusion I would like to say that, after actually having taken the time

to get to know him, I am both proud and honored to call Geoffrey Feldman my

friend.

Sincerely,

A. Hodge

(Greg)

Portland, Oregon, USA

ps As an addendum: While Geoffrey does not have a personal agenda or

vemdetta against the general population of the surfacehippy panel, he does

indeed posess both the technical capability and political assets to initiate

such an event if the personal attacks on, not only TH, but any other panel

or individual continue. It would be a shame to see the disolution of a

valuable asset to the community due the the irresponsible actions of a very

few individuals.