David M Lerman wrote:
At 06:07 PM 4/17/97 -0500, Stormwalker wrote:
David M Lerman wrote:
WRONG. Regardless of the provocative content of Mr. Mossison's
arguments, his letter was polite and reasoned in tone. He has the right to
expect the same regard from those responding. Civility and politeness are
necessities, not luxuries, for reasoned debate and discussion. I'm sure
C.S. Lewis would agree.
You have an interesting concept of polite. Making demands (which is
exactly what he did, whether it was his intention or not) is not polite.
Need I say more?
No, but I must. I am calling for politeness of debate, for measured and
even response regardless of provocation.
The level and nature of verbal abuse thrown at Mr. Morrison was not
justified. Freedom of speech is not license to abuse. It is also
counterproductive. To flame someone with whose opinion you totally
disagree may be emotionally satisfying. It does nothing to change his
mind or to persuade others of the correctness of your views. Indeed,
such speech suggests a lack of intellectual discipline and rigor and
an inability to formulate a concise directed argument. Would the US
be better off if Thomas Jefferson had written "George III is a
sniveling toady descended from a long line of incestuous
relationships" into the Declaration of Independence rather than "A
prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a
tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
Well, for starters I saw no such inflammatory statements in Biles'
criticism of Mr. Morrison. I personally disagree with the level of
harsh language employed by Mr. Davies in his original post, even though
I think that to some extent Mr. Morrison asked for it (which was, if I
remember correctly, the contention of Mr. Biles... though I will let him
answer on that count).
I was merely contesting your statement that Mr. Morrison's original
post was "polite", because, quite frankly, it wasn't. While it is
certainly preferable not to return ill for ill, it is also difficult to
criticize someone for doing that. After all, the typical human response
to a statement one finds offensive is to respond in kind... it takes a
certain level of self-mastery to do better.
Mr. Morrison's original post was not within the realm of "reasoned
debate and discussion" as you put it... therefore how can you criticize
others for not responding within that realm? That is the question I put
to you.
To the FFML, I apologize for the spam. This is the last that will be
heard from me on the subject on this list. Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
Douglas A. Reeves
a.k.a Stormwalker