jessicafischerqueen: <Than>
Re: your post about the BEEF STROGANOFF page-
<Are you people from another planet?
not that I mind you see, mere curiosity
I'm not against aliens, human or otherwise
so grab that little "Don't Panic" button
and you know, mash it a few times
or several times
if you need
lol>
I know what you mean. It's one of the reasons I don't enjoy going there, so I rarely do.
Politics and religion are such highly charged and emotional topics that many people, including me, tend to get really worked up about the "high stakes" involved in their opinions.
Like you I'm not sure the stakes are as high as you might guess from reading the Rogoff page. <domdaniel> used to try to teach me and others that the "stakes" are never as high as you might think, and that we should be wary of folks calling for "immediate urgent action." I'm paraphrasing there from memory.
It seems to me that you need a certain kind of calm personality to post on the <Rogoof page> and have your voice actually heard. I don't mean to suggest all who post there are "goofs," but I couldn't resist because of <chancho's> recent (and immortal) series of "tolengoof" posts.
"tolengoof."
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ok back to the point-
It seems to me that to profit best from posting on the <Rogoff page> you need to be civil and at least pretend to be open minded. My natural inclination is to be uncivil and close minded, so this isn't a good place for me to post anything.
I consider two people I know to be "Role Model Kibbutzers," not just at the <Rogoff page> but everywhere else as well= <OhioChessFan> and <chancho>. They are not perfect but I look to both of them as kibbutzing role models.
Even when they are under fire and excited about their point, they are civil and they try to actually listen to the opposing point.
I remember reading <chancho's> long series of arguments on the <Alekhine> page. In fact, I remember his actual arguments.
It's a really heated extended discussion, and even though I disagreed with many of Brocho's assessments, he remained a model kibbutzer in the midst of this emotional argument.
lol with regard to our <Ohio>, in a recent incident I did notice, a kibbutzer was defending <Ohio's> capacity to be open minded. This caused a great flap from people who insisted shrilly that the kibbutzer had to be out of his mind to even consider the remote possibility that <Ohio's> mind was anything other than closed tighter than the door to Fort Knox.
That was funny. First, because the kibbutzer was right- <Ohio> does have an open mind, especially by "Rogoff page" standards; and second, because the posters demanding a retraction of such heresy were, coincidentally enough, among the most close-minded people I've ever had the misfortune to run across in my life.
In my opinion.
I'll emphasize that I speak only for myself here, since <Ohio> recently pointed out my tendency to assume I'm speaking for all of humanity whenever I type three words. He didn't use this exact phrase, of course, but I was glad to have this pointed out to me, because I had previously been unaware of this tendency.
A final point about <Ohio> that may be too subtle for some of the more hysterical of his detractors to have noticed- <Ohio> is always keenly aware of *where* he is writing a post. He deliberately seeks to avoid unnecessary or futile conflict that might arise from discussing an issue that he knows may not be welcome on that particular page. Among those who are strongly outspoken about religion and politics, this particular- and important- element of genuine civility seems to me to be an all too rare quality.
Kibitzing
