On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 9:11 AM, Carrol Cox
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Could some announcement be placed on
the archives noting the unmoderated status of this list for years and
the consquent appearance of posts incompatible with SftP principles?
That would be helpful. Something like: "Posts span the range of the human gene pool; caveat lector!"
Looking to the future; if/when a mass movement of the left once again
emerges, doubtless SftP or some 'offspring' would again become the sort
of activist group it was initially, in which case it would be well if
these archives could prove an aid rather than an embarassment.
Well, of course we now have members pointing out that they're not at all socialist, feminist, or I suppose, against racism, economic inequality, misuse of science, war, or the destruction of the environment either.
Without stopping to wonder why they're here then, if not simply as trolls, it would be good also to state that the list functions as a place for those with an "interest" in
critical discussion of the misuse of science as an instrument of oppression.
In fact -- Michael Goldhaber, are you there? -- it might be well to periodically send such a reminder to members, or attach it to posts, as many professional list-serves do. The few rules or advisories on "etiquette" that we have, such as on posts per day, or discussion versus reposting, could be included. And MG being the current moderator. Again, while some will scream "OMG RULES are against my personal private ultimate fantasy freedom!!!!" it's merely an open acknowledgment of the norms most of us follow in order to have more fruitful conversation.
Claudia
--
"EVERY GUN that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." --U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953.
"War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent." --British author George Orwell (1903-1950)
