What Are the Guidelines for Political Discourse on Listservs?

Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 11:49:00 EDT
From: "Gerald M. Phillips, Ph.D." 
Subject: Open Letter to Mr. Bell and others
To: Multiple recipients of list QC-L 

I think I was one of the earliest members of C@M, and found it a vital
and stimulating list in which people could disagree respectfully and
with good humor.

I made many good friends there.

I left in anger, because I felt I was hounded off the list by a vituperative
and humorless person, intolerant in act and deed.  I was not looking for
sympathy, merely a place where I could engage in good conversation with
intelligent people.

I have activated myself many times since, though not lately. The threat of
being "monitored," raised originally by Mr. Waldman and repeated more
recently by Mr. Bell have even me intimidated.  Having gone through the
McCarthy era, during which time I have been monitored, and having been
bushwhacked by reverse racists, I decided to give my angina a break and
stay away.

More and more, however, the notion of a refereed and enclosed list, where
there is some control over participation, is appealing.  You folks on C@M
might give it some thought.  You may be missing something important by
allowing bigots to intimidate potential participants.

I am far from a shrinking violet, but I prefer my argument to be rational,
respectful, and witty.  We can't do much about the latter.  You either
have it or you don't. But the first two criteria are sine qua non.

Let me know if there are policy changes.

Lee, I miss the contact and the press releases, although the blatant
anti-semitism of "Jews News" and some of the posts did not escape my
notice.  My wife, who is far from paranoid, suggested that these are
people she would prefer I not play with.  Caught between advocates for
Louis Farrakhan and Roy Cohn wannabes, is not where I want to be.

Gerald M. Phillips
Retired

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