On Nov 17, 2020, at 7:03 PM, Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk at
classiccmp.org<mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>> wrote:
Argh! I was not posting to the list that I thought I was. I apologise
for using that nickname. :-(
Liam, ?. does it actually make it better that you were posting to the wrong list?
I say this without rancor because generally you are right about our financial (and other)
self-centeredness, I have to admit it. Heck, I?m from Texas, and *we* do it to the rest of
the United States - to say nothing of furriners.
But one of ?murikas biggest problems right now may stem at least partly from people
referring, within their "in-crowd", to the "out-crowd" in a
disparaging manner. Our political system is veering rapidly from a functional democracy
(1) to a non-functional democracy (2) because of this. I strongly suspect almost nobody in
either leading political party today would give me anything more than a blank look if I
quoted to them the last lines of our Pledge of Allegiance: ?one nation ?. **indivisible**,
with liberty and justice **for all**.? (double emphasis added). Even within our own
borders, we can find plenty of reasons to disagree *without* having resort to stereotyping
nicknames. And yet, every other word in a political discussion these days is emotionally
loaded.
Not that it?s a huge deal, but, just for a while, it might be worth your consideration to
think whether a nickname you don?t want to use in one group, for fear of offending, is a
great idea to use in a different group. Echo chambers and internet bubbles being what they
are, setting a trend of tolerance and respect for outsiders could do a lot of good these
days.
All, sorry for the decidedly off-topic post, (figurative) freshly healing eyeball scars
from watching the debates leading up to our recent election.
???
(1) The old-fashioned New England Town Hall meeting. Everyone gets their turn to speak and
is listened to, arguments happen but so does compromise, and by the end of the meeting a
vote is hardly necessary because the best compromise solution has become obvious to all.
(2) per Ambrose Bierce in ?The Devil?s Dictionary?: Three wolves and a Sheep sitting down
to decide what?s for dinner.