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Please, dear GraceKrispy, be so kind to take away that banner from your signature.
This thread reafforce my intention of taking part to MR more and more, not only because books and readers interest me but because of the quality of the members.
The forum itself is directly concerned with culture.The highest form of culture. Books, writings, ideas, emotions. We also live here and now. With all the advantages and dangers of our times and places.
If this forum was on feline pets (as it might seem to a superficial observers) there would be much easier reasons to quarrel.
There are so many issues and so many interests and manipulating forces, and technology gives so much resonance. Everything is faster, cliche are so useful and confortable ...
It is a time of great material confort, expecially for us that can indulge in fancy things like ebooks.Therefore we all tend to cultivate and cuddle our egos, our rightness. We like to be smart, to see through propaganda. To be different. We like to be splendid.
Most of the real life issues are very simple in their core although very complex in the conseguences. The core is quite often made of two sides. In and out (of the walls of the town under siege f.i.). Pro or against, and so on. This ambiavelency between issue core and its conseguences leads the more simpleminded among us to a third way so that they can be right anyway the cooky crumbles. In doing so - on purpose if sneaky, unadvertily if just underequipped - they do take one of the two sides, but it appears (to themselves only) that they are neutral and therefore right by default, and the others wrong (by default), the other others can then be conveniently neglected. It is an old and very upsetting pattern. And I am sure that you do not need a graphical explanation. If so feel free to contact me by PM only.
How do we avoid all this BS ? If we follow the "correctness approach", which is very tempting, being intrisecally "right", we fall into the simpleminded trap that I just described. If we take stands then the culture environment of this forum evaporates. Happy_terd is the most recent example of instant evaporation. And we all lost. I just read his good bye speech and it confirmes the impression I got of him of being an excellent person. A big useless loss.
It does not exist a mechanical way. pshrynk's starting post indicates the only possible way: no insults, name calling, personal attacks, or any other sort of incivility.
I would add to the list "provocative motions". At least for the time being. In the hope that culture and civility help each other.
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