Re: [ox-en] Re: [pox] Important: English list
- From: "Niall Douglas" <s_fsfeurope2 nedprod.com>
- Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 23:57:15 -0000
On 15 Mar 2004 at 21:41, Rich Walker wrote:
because as far as I can tell, that kind of running political games
behind the backs of those participating in the debate is really shitty
practice.
I totally concur. If you want to talk about us, do it by private
email or other non-public fora.
I thought about CC'ing people, but I'm getting tired of this. Still,
it's a learning experienc - it's the first time I've seen the
discussion of politics destroy a purported political mailing list.
What I don't get is that the list masters seem to think that ox-en
should be an English language version of the German side of things.
Well I hate to break it to those in question, but English speakers
are far more diverse than German speakers. The list memberships are
very different - therefore it is obvious that this list will be of a
fundamentally different character to a German list. So different in
fact it's unrecognisable. This is actually a good thing (diversity).
I'll go one further again - most of anything written in German is
permanently lost to the world and is of little use to anyone who
isn't German. English is a major world language with at least 350
million native speakers and several billion overall. Therefore
painful as it might be to accept, the most productive way to do
Oekonux discussions is in English. Or even Spanish. But not German.
This said, a majority of all philosophical advances in the last two
hundred years have come from Germans. They are uniquely able to
advance things. However, it seems to be that a fundamental tenet of
what Oekonux seeks is inclusion of everyone across language
differences.
I'll go still further here - what Oekonux should be seeking is
inclusion of everyone across ALL differences - we are talking about a
new form of society. That includes those of the far left and those of
the far right - how can any such system be practical without taking
account of them?
Also I don't think that this returns to a sane state by itself. The
destructive powers on the list became too strong already. Anyone who
thinks otherwise is hereby asked to proof me wrong. From my experience I
think it is impossible by any normal way of action.
Is there anybody who thinks that the English *Oekonux* list improves
instead of declining?
I think it's improving. Some of the people left due to too many off-
topic posts generated by others who left because the thought of
someone being a nazi was too much to handle[1]. If that latter group
are so intolerent, then in fact they were holding back the goals of
this list and project and while it is sad to see useful opinions
removed, it is probably for the best.
It should be made absolutely clear that if people hadn't kicked up
such a fuss over Jonathan, there wouldn't have been so much off-topic
material. Just look - this very post is yet another off-topic email
caused by the same storm in a teacup.
Just because something shrinks doesn't mean it's dead. Trees nearly
die every year just to become even bigger the following. During this
process leaves are shed to make way for new growth.
Things have the tendency to balance out over time. The list is quiet
now after a storm. It will rebound over time. Unless our list masters
become too autocratic to enforce their idea of how things should be
as it appears they are doing.
[1]: I have often wondered if the same people would get so worked up
if a real Nazi who pretended not to be joined the list. They could be
spreading around their evil blah blah etc. and still those who left
would know no better. Contrast with someone who is a right wing
nationalist yes but nazi no who publishes other people's opinion much
as a newspaper editor does and somehow this is an evil which cannot
be tolerated, must be stamped out at all costs and the mere concept
of which fills people with mind numbing, paralysing fear - destroy
the evil, cut it out, kill it now now now before it gets you. Almost
sounds like a certain someone's speeches about the innate evil of a
certain ethnic group in the 1930's, which I find highly ironic :(
BTW I shall be away until the 24th.
Cheers,
Niall
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Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: projekt oekonux.de