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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (58606)	9/18/2002 12:19:46 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

"When one takes things like trying to get Karen to admit she is a "Leftist", when there is ample proof that that is an inaccurate charge, and, in any case, she is not going to do it, the reiterative aggression seems like harassment and bullying. Similarly, how long are we going to belabor whether X is a hypocrite because, like most people, she is not perfectly consistent? After awhile, and especially when it becomes a gang attack, it just seems mean. However mean she has been in the past, she has gotten so much flack for it at the time that it hardly seems necessary to interrupt a normal conversation to start in on her again." I personally have been guilty of bullying Karen. So, I can relate to your beef. I doubt whether very many on the boxing ring could claim they are dust free on this one. On the one hand posters come here some times out of bordom, looking for action. When no cool topics are present people pick up what ever seems handy and join the fray. I think some of us are afraid we will run out of cool topics and that the boxing rings will die during one of those uncomfortably quiet periods...so we pick on each other. However, I think you are over looking some things. When someone sends a zinger at another poster a response of some sort is necessary, simply for accountability. Some times we do this just to joke or jibe one another and so it creates levity among the community. Some times allegations are cast from one or more posters toward another. This is a different case all together. This type of activity may be designed to create a line in the sand from which posters are to choose alliances (I think that is silly, yet I have seen it more than once). So gangs may form on more than one side to banter for a bit with no real substantive thought or discourse. Some times baseless or uninformed allegations are cast from one or more posters toward another. If this is the case the victim of the allegations should present their case and clear things up. This may involve some foundation, history, or evidence that redeams the accused. Done deal, we move on. However when a baseless and uniformed allegation is cast and in the midst of things the allegations continually morph then we are dealing with an entirely different beast. The person doing the casting is holding some sort of grudge or resentment and is not going to stop until they have satisfactorily obtained a pound of flesh. Behavioral psychologists tell us to move on and ignore most annoyances. They are likely to dissipate or resolve on there own. The exceptions are disruptive and agressive behavior. Persons who disrupt or act agressively are goal oriented and will always escalate up and to the point of goal achievement unless corrective action is taken. Or you can decide not to take corrective action and behave as an enabler to help the person to develop a disturbed persona.