On 12 Dec 99, at 13:44, Richard Charles Holloway wrote:
> The second most important characteristic of this list has been the delete
> button on my e-mail browser. Lately, it's been getting a bit more of a
> "quick" work out than usual, as I have been consciously deleting rather
> than reading some of the threads currently running. Cynicism, sarcasm and
> "sour grapes" have a limited shelf-life in my "scanning" time. There have
> been a lot of those, lately. It does take some effort to turn cynicism or
> sarcasm into an open, contributing thought.
In the part of your message that talked about dialogue, you mentioned it
as the reason you like this list. I think one issue (and this is a general
one, too), is the degree to which dissent (disagreement, pointed questions
and comments), is part of dialogue or not.
Putting aside the issue of civility (well, that's a cultural thing, but
anyway), I benefit most, NOT from polemics or long explanations, but by
the point/counter-point, or thesis-antithesis forms of dialogue.
I learn best through either participating in disagreeing, or observing
disagreeing. It seems to me that dialogue can only occur when both
agreement and disagreement can occur freely, and I have a concern about
your use of the word cynicism.
Perhaps you could explain what you mean by your usage and offer some
specific examples of comments that might fall into that category?
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