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| "Sarlo" <sarlo at globalserve.net> Do, 17.06.2004, 08:13 sannyas-list@yahoogroups.com It has been going on for a while, though unlike Mitra, i have been here every day, so i might be accused of NOT SHARING. Come to think of it, i already was, by Madhu. So here it is. All things in their own time. And the "while" is really not a long time. The process started when Suviro put out that he thought it was time for East to be given another chance. We exchanged stuff in a rational way and it carried on, sort of humdrum, but with an undercurrent, that i slowly became more aware of. I began to feel not okay that this issue is never going to go away. That the "free speech" champions will never be satisfied with whatever free speech they can have in a thousand and one other places, it has to happen HERE. Now even outsiders are coming to argue it. It doesn't matter to these people that there are other values that get trampled in this process. THEIR value trumps all others. It reminds me of free enterprise -- a similar value shoved down people's throats -- whose global triumph is almost complete, even as it destroys the planet. The list has so absorbed this as a priority that i was beginning to lose hope that any other value might come to be accepted. And quite contrary to what Tanmayo said recently ("we never talk about moderation") it seems to me that's all we talk about, whenever something big gets us going. I started to feel tired. People's undealt-with parental authority issues are never-ending, it seems. I would like to be in a list where there are other things. |
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| So one idea that had
occurred in the past, though nothing ever came of it, was to expand the
circle of moderators. Maybe, i thought, with more moderators, more people
aware of the issues involved, there would be more people to take the heat
and more to appreciate other values. Only Vasant volunteered, and that kicked up tons of dust, and in fact hastened the day of reckoning. He strutted and boasted, people reacted, he reacted big time and i just got queasier. Mitra said the list is poisoned, i would say it has some positive aspects but the bad is outweighing the good. And more and more i am coming to feel that there is something here that will never go away, and the constant returning to the themes of free speech and moderation -- and there are tons of free lists, why they have to be everywhere? -- is a kind of toxic sludge. Mitra's poll about what kind of list do people want may illuminate some issues but i don't think this list can ever get away from this heritage. The day before yesterday i wrote to Mitra some of this stuff, and that i was getting tired. So that has pushed him to do something. And the threats that Vasant was making to Suviro and Tanmayo added an urgency to it, and these people coming in from East's list and so on. I felt an urgency so it has come out rather more rushed than anticipated. I also created a new group, thinking this one was hopeless. It was inspired in some ways by Shantam, the most positive influence to come along here in a while. I would still like to be in a list where people relate basically positively and responsibly but with enough flexibility for fun and even an occasional dump. My group can stay on the back burner if sannyas-list survives and is able to encourage values like this. My feeling is it can't, being too burdened by the past, but let's see. ...... Enough for today? Love, Sarlo |
