Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00334)

At 05:24 PM 2/10/02 -0500, you wrote:
> In a message dated 2/10/02 1:49:40 PM Central Standard Time,
> eldon@theosophy.com writes:
>
> << Do you acknowledge the value in the theosophical approach, and
> the right of people wanting to learn about it to have a change to
> learn about what it says in a non-hostile environment? >>
>
> Of course we do!
>
> But Theosophists non-hostile?? At least on the mailing lists the neighbors
> won't call the police thinking the argument is a riot!
>
> (And yes, that really happened to one lodge in Chicago many years ago.)
>
> Chuck the Heretic
Non-hostile environment? It's certainly too much to hope
for at times. It's too idealistic. We can hope for it, and
sometimes see it. But it's not the norm.

It's good to see where people are coming from. Some will
be flexible and take a "live and let live" attitude. Others
will come out seeking to destroy all in their way, seeing
the list as their playground to play the role of troll.

People can get especially nasty on a mailing list, where
they'd do and say things they'd never do to someone in person.
It's like road rage, where once behind the driver's seat, someone
vents their rage on others on the road, and perhaps a mild-mannered
person becomes a freeway demon, terrorizing fellow drivers!

We're all in this list together, and no one is empowered to
speak with special authority. Each of us only speaks from our
own views, and not a representative of the One Holy Religion,
the One True Path, nor as The True Representative of Science!

Joking's fine, but nastiness is out-of-place. Let's all
behave ourselves. (That is -- everyone -- not just you, I, nor
the first dozen people you might think of, everyone on the list.)

-- Eldon