----- Original Message ----- From: Neil Faulkner N.Faulkner@tesco.net

And in the same post, Annie made a remark that I really do take offence

at:

...

So, frankly, the conclusion I came to on the other list where I saw these complaints is that some

people

...

were annoyed that the attention had shifted from *them* and their ideas/points/conversation/whatever to someone else.

This amounts to an accusation of egotism. I can't speak for Fiona

I can :)!

, but I

personally do not see intellectual debate as an exercise in egotism, it is simply something I enjoy for its own sake. I'm not telling everyone else that they should enjoy it too, I'm not trying to set any kind of

benchmark,

I simply want to pursue my own kind of fun in my own way with like-minded people and without unwanted distraction and interruption from others who don't enjoy that kind of thing. And I honestly don't think that's a great deal to ask for.

This is *exactly* my opinion, and I've felt a little hurt by some of the posts suggesting that I'm a strait-laced old so-and-so who doesn't want anyone else to have fun. I like, and sometimes participate, in "fun" threads (check the archive, but I'm pretty sure I was the one who initiated the Thania's Boots thread last year). But I also enjoy debate for its own sake, and the threads that usually get me going are the "serious" ones.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out to some people who seem to misunderstand that a debate doesn't always construe an attack on someone/thing. In the sciences, social and otherwise, knowledge advances through one person setting up a theory and everyone else trying to knock it down-- if the theory withstands all counterarguments, fine, but if a hole is poked in it, then some form of modification is called for. So if, for instance, somebody says "the Federation is a fascist state," I am going to take that opportunity to critically examine that statement in the light of what is known about fascism, whether there are alternative ideologies which might provide a better analogy, etc. etc. I am not trying to suggest that people who take the first point of view are stupid, or even that the first point of view is totally without merit-- although if I manage to prove in a number of ways that the Federation isn't fascist, I might be a little put out by people still saying "doesn't count, cos *I* interpret it as fascist, whether it was intended to be or not."

If anything, it's the funsters (who I do not consider nitwits, whatever Penny might say)

Me neither. Just occasionally tactless :).

Fiona

The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net

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