Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!gs6.sp.cs.cmu.edu!spok From: spok@gs6.sp.cs.cmu.edu (John Ockerbloom) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: Re: SCI.philosophy.objectivism Keywords: A disturbing bit of dogmatism for a proposed sci.* group Message-ID: <7821@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Date: 3 Feb 90 20:52:18 GMT References: <11909@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <7434@tank.uchicago.edu> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 36 In <7434@tank.uchicago.edu> rwt1@tank.uchicago.edu (Robert Tracinski) writes: >In <11909@goofy.megatest.UUCP> djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones) writes: >>I would like to have talk.philosophy.objectivism, because as an ex- >>Objectivist, I would welcome the opportunity to air out the reasons why >>I abandoned it. Perhaps I might use the exercise of posting to that >>forum to clarify my own views. Perhaps I might even shed some light on >>the subject for others. In any case, I think it would be fun to talk it out. > >This is precisely the sort of thing that is entirely *in*appropriate for any >Objectivism newsgroup. [...] Those who do not >agree with Objectivism are welcome, but the purpose of the group demands that >they only post if they are willing to be serious about the issues and >consider what the Objectivists have to say. This reply bothered me a lot. Mr. Jones above simply states that he would enjoy discussing some of the problems he sees with Objectivism; whereupon Mr. Tracinski replies that such posts would be inappropriate to the sci.philosophy.objectivism group, implying that Mr. Jones would not be "serious" about the issues or be willing to listen to Objectivists. Now, how did Mr. Tracinski jump to this conclusion, might I ask? Did Mr. Jones say that he would not seriously consider responses? Unless one thinks that "fun" == "not serious" and that "talking it out" really means "giving a monlogue", then I don't see how one can say that he won't. Mr. Tracinski has said that he doesn't mind seeing "reasonable opposition" on s.p.o, but the speed at which he seems to conclude that Mr. Jones' articles critical of Objectivism would be "unreasonable" gives me grave doubts about how "objective" the newsgroup he proposes will actually be, and how seriously he will listen to opposing viewpoints. John Ockerbloom -- ========================================================================== ockerbloom@cs.cmu.edu ...!uunet!cs.cmu.edu!ockerbloom ocker@yalecs.bitnet (forwarded) 4209 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh PA 15217