I think you're mistaken, Anon. I don't think everyone who took offense at some of Nazi's posts were defending Elan or their staff. I think some people just get very offended over racial slurs and other obnoxious behavior.
Maybe Nazi's just venting. Maybe he's just trying to draw a crowd. It's working, too. Everyone loves a brawl and certainly a lot of people have dropped by just to see if it could possibly be as bad as it is. That's cool with me. I understand the pro Elan ppl are all a chatter with talk about how crazy and unbalanced the Fornits are. Any publicity is good pulicity, as they say.
Bellis, my dear, don't bother trying to shut anybody up. The rules of this forum make that pretty nearly impossible. That's intentional. Everyone and anyone has all the freedom in the world to make a compelling argument and to win people over through persuasion and reason. But you have every right to fail, too. This is a far different culture from the European forums you usually hang out in.
On the other hand, though, I think all this is really directed at the wrong audience. Ppl who buy in; hook, line and sinker; to the Program philosophy are never, ever going to admit or even comprehend the psyche violence they do to others. They view it as heroic intervention; like risky, but life saving surgery. You won't influence their thinking by assault or by giving them a dose of their own medicine. You're only feeding their delusions of martyrdome, in my humble opinion.
You might influence other people, though, if you'd quit kidding around and tell them the real reasons why you're so pissed off at these people.
I don't really buy into the idea that lawyers and lawsuites are the only effective tools for shutting down this sick industry. I don't even think the lawsuites are the
most effective tool we've got. Freedom of speech is really not just about some quaint, artsy fartsy notion of tolerance. It's one of the base tenets of American culture. This goes back to pre American revolution days, when a dozen jurors refused to convict Wm. Penn the younger for preaching in the street, despite having been starved and tormented by the judge in ways that make Elan or Straight or Tranquility Bay look like the Four Seasons.
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to choose the later"--T.J.
I think he was onto something there.
Don't let your dogma run out in front of your karma.
--Anonymous
