[Tango-L] Acrimoniousness and the red herring of moderation

[Jay Rabe]

Carol,
 
     Excellent insight and summary. Only one point I might disagree on. I believe there is wide consensus on the list about flame behavior being judged wrong or inappropriate or unproductive. But in "polite society," when a person is obnoxious or boorish, people roll their eyes and turn away and ignore or shun them. In electronic society, the analogue is to not respond - "don't feed the trolls", or delete un-read any posts from repeat offenders. But those responses are invisible to the offender. It's easy enough to assume people aren't responding because of inability to come up with a good retort. 
           J
          TangoMoments.com



> Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:12:02 -0400> From: arborlaw at comcast.net> To: mashdot at toshine.net> CC: tango-l at mit.edu> Subject: [Tango-L] Acrimoniousness and the red herring of moderation> > Apparently the answer to Miles' query is that for some reason, in the > online tango community, the dominant players generate and consume poison > and unpleasantness as a form of entertainment.> > They expect others to be wired the same way. They feed on provocation > and conflict and if it is not there in sufficient quantity, they will > stir the pot. They engage in display behavior by acting out their > dominance and they award themselves self esteem points through bullying. > These self-esteem points are very easily obtained because everyone is > remote and there are no social consequences to bullying or other bad > behavior.> > Accordingly, on tango-l there is no consensus (as there is generally in > polite society) that to be acrimonious and impose your unpleasantness on > others is morally wrong or stressful on a community, or even bad for > your karma or your blood pressure. To the contrary, it is celebrated. > The community does not want a moderator because the community does not > want to lose its primary form of entertainment.> > It is unfortunate that the highest and most intellectual discussion of a > particular human endeavor (tango) to be found, as on this list, requires > subjecting oneself to the petty amusements of others who take their > entertainment primarily in the form of bullying others, and who justify > their mean and uncivilized behavior by claiming that it is actually a > necessary expression of "passion and intensity."> > When in Rome, be aware that Romans are going to continue being Romans.> > This does not mean that you must be a Roman.> > Carol Ruth Shepherd> Arborlaw PLC> Ann Arbor MI USA> 734 668 4646 v 734 786 1241 f> http://arborlaw.com> > "legal solutions for 21st century businesses"> _______________________________________________> Tango-L mailing list> Tango-L at mit.edu> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
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