Re[2]: [at-l] MAY PLEDGE TOTALS UPDATE: Keep the List Friendly (AT-L/ATC fundraiser)

[Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net (Bob C.)]

"...I'll  take  healthy,  open dissent over coerced unanimity, any day." reports
Terrapin.

And I agree. I think the problem, however, is not the demand for civil language,
but  the  failure  of proponents of the pledge to spell out what was truly being
sought.  As  I understood it, the ban was not on argument and dissent, (contrary
to  what  some  seemed  to  have  thought)  but  on name calling as part of that
dissent.

Constructive  debate is healthy and makes for an interesting list, regardless of
the  subject  --  be it hiking gear, or such hotly debated issues as wind towers
and land acquisition.

But  debate  that  disintegrates  into  name  calling  is  as  boring as coerced
unaminity.

Weary