[aklug] Re: Enough

Bruce Hill said, on 06/08/2010 07:34 PM:
> On Tue, Jun 08, 2010 at 01:15:01PM -1000, Lee wrote:
> If freedom of speech is banned on this list, and the previous political
> threads and threads about petty gripes are allowed, please remove me from
> the list mate.

Bruce, I am not trying to infringe your rights. Also, please don't
think that you are being singled out; it's just been quite a long time
since an OT political thread escalated this quickly. I also think that
the ASD threads probably should have been squashed earlier. And not to
pick on Lee, but I also think that his comment tried to get in the last
word a bit too slyly. :-) Let me explain my reasoning.

AKLUG's primary topic is Linux ... on paper. In practice, and in the
absence of another geek forum, our de facto topic is computing
technology in general, with a strong Linux leaning. We occasionally
have OT threads. They make the discussions more interesting. But we
(usually) quickly return to what I believe most of us come here for: to
geek.

My objections to divisive non-technical discussions on this list are
threefold.

1. Divisive OT topics degrade the usefulness of the list.

I go to a national license plate convention every year. Our goal is to
buy, sell, swap, display, and learn about plates. Many of the attendees
are crusty old bastards from all over the political and religious
spectrums, who are also still torqued off at some guy who swindled them
30 years ago ... but we all still go. This is because there is a
"gentleman's agreement" in which we pretend that we wouldn't throttle
each other in other forums. :-) Without that, there'd be ten smaller
conventions. We would benefit less, have to travel more, etc.

The people who get the most done -- and have the most fun -- are the
ones who set aside their differences to just talk about their common
passion. It's a blast -- and also very, very efficient.

2. Topicality is a minimum, not a luxury.

In today's digital world, I believe that free speech translates into the
right to put up a blog, web site, or join a forum that is topical for
the items that someone wants to discuss. It does not translate into
being able to talk about any topic in any forum. There are simply too
many information flows to do otherwise.

3. Emotional topics get in the way of my geeking.

Adrenaline is not conducive to precise analysis and clear-headed
learning. FMRI scans of people having political discussions clearly
show that reasoning shuts down and emotions rule the brain - regardless
of your position. I can get caught up in it as much as the next guy --
which is what worries me. :-)

In summary: I want to talk politics on the AKLUG list just about as much
as I want to tune a motorcycle engine at the dinner table on a first
date. It's loud, messy, unnecessary, inefficient, and makes a bad first
impression. :-) A place for everything, and everything in its place. I
am all for discussing politics -- in a different forum.

I'm not trying to squelch free speech; I'm trying to conserve mental
bandwidth.

My $0.02.

Royce
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Received on Tue Jun 8 21:06:31 2010