On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:41:42 +0100, Michael Balter
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Am I wrong to express concern that Mandi's question has yet to receive a
>response?
Good luck to Mandi on getting a reply. Below is a post of mine from 2003 for
which I am still waiting for some supportive response from list members. The
deafening silence caused me to drop off the list for a few years:
On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 16:09:37 -0500, NEWMAN STUART
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Mr. Mann,
Your earlier comments on genetically engineered crops seemed very sensible
to me. But then you began complaining about "wimminsLib," which was way
off base for this list. Now you have provided us with some ethnic
impersonations. I don't think I am the only one for whom this kind of thing
undermines the discussion environment and the original impulse behind this
list. I suggest that you take your own good advice and confine your
comments to the theme of science for the peoiple.
Stuart Newman
-----Original Message-----
From: Science for the People Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Robt Mann
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 4:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: that pesky Near East
From the privileged position of uninvolvement, may I offer some
comment on the recent heated exchange about Gaza, Israel, etc?
While a grad student in a USA lab dominated in more senses than one
by men of Jewish extraction (most of them non-religious, I guessed), I soon
learned not to attempt any discussion relating to Israel. As soon as one
made any remark, no matter how specific & careful, they would scream "Ve
are fighting for our vechy SURVIVAL", to put me on notice that reasoning
would not be available. I gave up.
What I did think, and still do, is that in such a complex long
dispute what may matter most practically is: which party is in the more
sturdy psychological condition to make a concessionary offer. It has
usually appeared to me that the non-Israelis (not all of them Arabs!)
happen to be in the more precarious psychological position and are
therefore the better placed to be generous. By this comparison I do not
mean to imply that the Zionists who scream as I've quoted are in any very
robust psychological stance - only that the others are even less secure.
I have no opinion on what offer(s) the Zionists might best
formulate; as I say, I gave up the attempt to reason on this ghastly
imbroglio. I mean now only to make a suggestion on a different level,
which I hope will be taken up sympathetically as it is meant.
I must add that unless the theme of science for the people can be
injected into this particular dispute, it would not seem to belong on this
list.
Shalom and, if I have it right, namaste
R
