In article , momkulio{at}yahoo.ca says...
>
> "Mark Borgerson"  wrote in message
> news:MPG.1c728920c475751b9896cb{at}news.comcast.giganews.com...
> > In article ,
momkulio{at}yahoo.ca says...
> > >
> > > "Craig Chilton -- Countdown to 1/20/09: 1,443 days to
BYE-BYE Bushie!
> > > Forever!!"  wrote in message
> > > news:4208adfb.877348{at}netnews.mchsi.com...
> > > > On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 01:06:45 -0500,
> > > > Jayne Kulikauskas  wrote:
>
> []
> > > > >      I can see that it is much easier for you to
imagine that I am a
> > > > > two-dimensional conservative that you can
demonize.  In a tolerant
> > > > > way, of course.
> > > >
> > > >      Uh-huh.  I'll be watching with interest to see your stance
> > > > regarding abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc.  Then
> > > > we can take it from there.
> > >
> > > So if I don't agree with you on every single issue, you feel justified
> in
> > > heaping abuse on me?  But you think of yourself as tolerant?
 I'll take
> > > Grizzlie Antagonist's intolerance over your tolerance any day.
> > >
> >
> > It's a sad fact of life on Usenet that the heaping of abuse is all too
> > common.   Those on the receiving end seldom feel that the abuse
> > is justified (is abuse ever justified?).   It sometimes seems that
> > it starts with disagreement over a single issue, but then becomes
> > a matter of reflex.   Sometimes you can break the cycle by taking
> > a vacation from Usenet for a few weeks or a month. Often that
> > doesn't work as the abusers often have very good memories.  ;-)
>
> I don' think that anything can be done to stop other people from posting
> abusive personal attacks.  The only one I can control is myself.  And I
> don't even succeed at that all the time.  
>

I consider your reasonable approach to be a good example.  Soc.men can
use as many of those as possible.

I sometimes wonder how difficult it is for some posters to maintain
the dichotomy between their usenet personalities and their 'in-person'
personalities.   I suspect that much of the more abusive rhetoric
seen here seldom gets used in face-to-face meetings or in day-to-day
conversations.   I've seen real-life examples of that kind of dichotomy
with some petty officers in the Navy who were often VERY profane
and abusive in their working persona, but who were much calmer
and more reasonable outside working hours.  I suspect that the
same dichotomy prevails with posters such as Grizzlie Antagonist,
who is a public defender, and probably very polite to
people outside usenet.

I'm of the personal opinion that there is no such thing as
permanent anonymity on the internet,  so I generally behave
here pretty much as I do the rest of the time.  (That opinion
is based on 5 years as a communications intelligence specialist--
where I found out how difficult it can be to keep some things
secret.)


Mark Borgerson



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