[NU Sports] RE: nwu-sports Digest, Vol 4, Issue 340

[Eric West]

I'll allow myself one meta-post per year...

At 06:43 AM 11/29/2007, Dennis W. Brandt wrote:
>[Jeff Beamsley wrote]
>>
>>It now appears that at least some would like it to become another front in
>>the culture wars.
>
>There isn't 1% of the posts here that ever mention politics.

And any percentage is too high. Mike Nolan has made that clear. It is not 
difficult to understand.


>>What has been special about this list is the respect and tolerance that most
>>of the folks have had for those who didn't share their point of view.
>
>So, if I disagree with you, I am intolerant?  Gee, that's a tolerant attitude.

That's not what those sentences are saying, and I'm pretty sure you know that.


>>I'm posting this message because I still have hope, but I'm growing tired of
>>wading through the political dreck and personal attacks to get to what I
>>originally joined this list more than ten years ago to read.
>
>You still have hope?  For what?  This is a message board on one 
>university's sports teams.  Keep it in perspective.  What dreck?  What 
>personal attacks?

You either aren't reading a certain person's messages or you are pretending 
not to know on purpose.


>I have never read a single post here that contained a visceral attack such 
>as is routinely seen on other opinion exchange sites.

This isn't about other sites, it's about this list.


>We state opinions. As I recall, they all have been stated with 
>respect.  Respect is not, however, defined as fawning 
>acceptance.  Sometimes politics IS a factor, as in the attitude of the 
>Northwestern administration toward their sports programs.  Sometimes it's 
>just interesting to exchange ideas with others who have a brain, which is 
>not always the case elsewhere.

That's the problem with politics: even people with brains tend to disregard 
them rather quickly. :) And this wasn't just bringing up something that 
happened to be political; it was deliberate baiting by someone who has 
admitted he enjoys doing it. True, no one was required to take the bait, 
but that doesn't excuse the fisherman.

The "no politics" rule is here for a reason. Nobody is required to like it, 
and presumably anyone is free to e-mail the list manager if they have 
reasons for changing it, but simply disregarding it is poor form. (And yes, 
that goes for both "sides" in the latest incident.)

---
Eric West
e-west at northwestern.edu