Re: ANN: Retiring from A2 world - Good Bye All!

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Gary R. Utter wtore:

<snip, snip>
>I'm explaining why Turley is hated, and why there is a group of people
>who rabidly oppose piracy for a hobbyist platform. It has nothing in
>particular to do with the world today, and everything to do with the
>world of a decade ago. It's a grudge match, a vendetta, that has very
>real reasons behind it, even if you don't understand those reasons or
>admit that they exist.

That seems to be a quite accurate description of the situation.

Note that such "vendettas" damage not only all participants, but
bystanders as well.  And that there is never a "winner" in such a
conflict.  Combatants posture and inflict random strikes, bystanders
alternately cheer and cower at the emotional gore, and nothing is
resolved.

Initial participation in a "grudge match" is a natural, but unfortunate,
consequence of human beings' emotional makeup.  Continued
participation long after the initial "outrage" is a sign of a defective
view of one's self-worth--in particular, persistent feelings of persecution
and victimization, and the idea that self-worth can be regained by
the "destruction" of the perceived persecutor/victimizer.

Of course, this hope is delusional--as is the idea that an event in
the past is evidence of _current_ persecution.  To be caught by
such a delusion is to be doomed to an endless loop of mutual
"retribution".

We perceive situations like this on the global stage as sad and
self-destructive (consider Northern Ireland, what was Yugoslavia,
and the Middle East).  But though we can easily see the no-win
characteristics of this behavior in others, it is hard to discipline
ourselves not to participate in our private wars.

In the interest of more civil conversation, please pause for a moment
before putting fingers to keyboard, to consider whether your message
is for the benefit of the community, or for some more primitive urge.

-michael

 Email:  mjmahon@aol.com
 Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/