Your grandmother was a very smart woman!
At 04:07 PM 2/4/2003, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>My grandmother was from Tasmania but she wouldn't have approved of Taz. She
>always said, If you can't say anything nice--don't say anything at all. She
>didn't mean we should only speak saccharine, banal trivialities. There was
>plenty of room for comments that were constructive, relevant, rational, even
>room for *respectful* disagreement. We understood we could have our own
>opinions. But there was no room for having tantrums, being rude, throwing
>toys at other kids, shouting No! No! No! Even if somebody said something we
>didn't like.
>
>I know many people reject notions of manners like that as irrelevant today,
>thinking they're no more useful than learning the "right" way to use eating
>utensils. I still think it's worth knowing of those ideas as some of them
>constitute or apply to "civil discourse," a viable alternative to road rage,
>flaming, physical abuse, and such.
>
>For me, "civil discourse" represents a powerful idea. The two words seem
>synergistic, they have greater meaning as a pair: to exchange ideas,
>feelings, and all the rest with each other; to do it respectfully, honestly,
>constructivly. Not only is it within our grasp, it is one of the very few
>things we can do that will contribute (even if slightly) to making our world
>a little less Hobbesian (I think he described life way back when as "short,
>mean, and brutish").
>
>To that end, I will try to make my comments here be constructive,
>respectful, relevant, honest--everything my grandmother would accept. If her
>idea has any resonance for you, by all means give it a whirl. Who knows,
>maybe we can make life, at least on this reflector, slightly utopian!
>
>73,
>Max, k0max
>
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Cecil
KD5NWA
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