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Date Posted: 09:17:13 10/20/10 Wed
Author: Ned
Author Host/IP: 75.106.169.240
Subject: Our Daddy took our T-bird away?
In reply to: arthur 's message, "Hey! What happened to this site? It used to be fun.." on 21:39:18 10/18/10 Mon

Arthur -

Debate here came to a standstill, as - rather than respecting each other's opinions and thinking about and critically and rigorously analyzing points-of-view - some posters chose name-calling, threats and suggestions of 'banning": those with whom they disagreed.

This had the effect of making many thoughtful posters aware that they had better things to do with their time than get embroiled with those whose idea of a contentious, productive discussion was a "shouting match."

That notwithstanding, there were times when I learned a lot - even if not always enough to completely change my mind - from discussions here, especially with those who see things differently than I do. But many became discouraged by the tone, and as the attitude of intimidation continued, they walked away.

Those who wanted to push that kind of discussion off the board, got their wish - and the result is what you see.

One of the great strengths and teachings of Franconia to me was the enormous diversity that existed within such a small population - from Don Wheeler to Rich Hindley, from Nick Howe to Katy Symmes, from Ion Laskaris to Elliot Coleman, and from Roy Shields to Ron Gans, from Grant Dowse to Sally Green, from from Tot Lipton to Alan Strell, from Ruth Pasquine to Kevin Thibodeau - just to name a few of the many extreme contrasts (which also included unexpected commonalities!).

To hear discussion among people of such diverse backgrounds and points of view was enlightening (and enlivening) in the extreme. To have to defend your ideas and assertions in the face of questioning from the likes of Al Engleman, Dick Ruopp, Eileen Molner, David Hoffman, George Putz and others was a huge challenge and a thrill.

The fact that most of the teachers - and many of the best students - were able to vigorously disagree without feeling the need to "convert" or intimidate others to their way of thinking (except perhaps by argument and persuasion) was contrary to the vast bulk of my experience of the authoritarian student/teacher relationship. The fact that teachers treated students as fully collegial peers, with valid opinions of their own, and minds good enough to self-correct (i.e."learn!") when they saw the weaknesses or shortcomings of their own positions was a revelation to me.

There's been a little bit of that here, from time to time. It's what I used to come here for. Sadly, the strident "I'M RIGHT DAMNIT!!" voices drowned most of it out. But I'm still here, and I'm still interested in talking seriously about ideas with anyone who shares that interest.

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  • The Wild West is still Fun -- D Jam (a Winchester can kill a tank), 17:53:22 10/22/10 Fri
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