Thanks to Paul Doniger for posting my exact sentiments. The reason I asked for cessation of _ideological_ debate (not expression of feelings of grief, horror, etc.) was, I suppose, the uncivil tone of Robert Einarsson's first posting on this topic. I didn't want to see mutual flaming happening. I'm sorry if I hypocritically hid my ideological viewpoint in my riposte. I was trying to exemplify what could be considered offensive or at least bothersome about the posting, as absolutes, of opinions that others would disagree with. I should have been more neutral. I should think that anyone would realize that there might be members of the list who would disagree strongly with statements such as were made in that original posting, and would be offended by them. There _are_ people in our midst at every point along the political spectrum, and each person has a right to their beliefs. As Paul so eloqently wrote, we can disagree without being disrespectful. It may be extra hard when extreme events lead us to extreme feelings. That's exactly the time that the most restraint is called for. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/