From: claudiak@i88.isc.com (Claudia Kale (STG))
Subject: Re: Vegetarians or not vegetarians?
Organization: INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 20:50:28 GMT

In article <50628@shamash.cdc.com> ldh@svl.cdc.com (Lawrence D. Hare) writes:
>
> 
>In article <1992Dec16.195033.5723@i88.isc.com> Claudia Kale,
>claudiak@i88.isc.com writes:
>>(I confess I'm not entirely sure whether I'm addressing Lawrence or
>>Donata here - one name appears on the account, another at the end of
>>the article)
>
>For someone who argues that it is not important to know who posts in this
>newsgroup, you seem to be quite suspicious about my identity, so perhaps
>you would like to re-read my first paragraph:
>
>>Hello, I am using Lawrence's Internet address as I do not have one. I 
>>am a vegan vegetarian interested in exchanging and learning ideas from
>>other vegetarians. 
>

This paragraph did NOT appear in the posting I followed up; please
re-read the posting you followed up. I did see it
several postings later (after I had sent my followup). And if you read
my posting, I never implied that "it is not important to know who posts
in this newsgroup". The nature of my followup was a series of questions
to *you* as a person, and I always find it nicer to address questions
to somebody by name than "Hey You!", but maybe I'm just strange that way*:o)

>I asked Lawrence if I could print my message and he graciously agreed. 
>He is not responsible for my opinions. About myself I have no secrets. I
>am a female, I was born in Milan, Italy, 43 years ago and I am a teacher.
>What else would you like to know?
>

If you really read what I wrote (see paragraph you included below),
 you will find you already know the answer to that one.
I don't particularly want to know your age, birthplace,
hatsize, religious affiliation, or how many years you've been vegetarian,
because none of those things in ANY way make your postings inherently
more credible than postings by people who are not 43 year-old vegan female
teachers who were born in Milan. It is unclear from your paragraph
above whether you believe that people who don't include a thumb-nail
autobiographical account of themselves with each posting *are* keeping
secrets from the rest of us. It may be naive of me to think so,
but I think some posters don't "tell all" simply because they don't
think it germane to the discussion. If a poster truly had a secret anti-
vegetarian agenda, it wouldn't be all that difficult to simply lie
and tell us (s)he was a vegetarian.

>>Donata/Lawrence, I find it puzzling that you think that one's dietary
>>habits lend legitimacy to one's contributions to this forum. Does
>>being a vegetarian automatically enhance the logic or veracity of
>>one's posting? Does being an omnivore automatically bestow a hidden
>>agenda upon one's posting? One of the things I like about net news
>>is that I don't know the age/educational background/ethnic affiliation/
>>religion/favorite color/sex (in some cases)/hatsize/whatever about
>>posters: all "arguments" and opinions must stand or fall on their
>>own logical merits and/or documentation.
>
>I have never said that I would automatically agree or disagree with
>anything a vegetarian would say based on the fact that she is a
>vegetarian the way you imply. I believe in the courage of one's own
>convictions when expressing criticism, however, and I respect that
>courage regardless of my own ideologies.
>

Then why do you wish to know the dietary habits of other posters?
To what possible use can you apply that knowledge, if not to let it
influence your perception of credibility? 

>>I don't see that any of us has been discourteous to you by not telling
>>you everything about our dietary habits. When you discuss political
>>issues or current events with others do you wish to know their
>>political party and ethnic information before you assess the validity
>>of their contributions to the discussion? Probably not.
>
>You bet I want to know. When I am discussing politics with someone I want
>to know their political views and they are proud to tell me. And as so
>many people are disseminating misinformation about ethnic groups for
>their own selfish reasons, depending on what they say,  I may wish to
>know their ethnic information as well.
>

You and I will have to agree to disagree on this one. I would never have
the gall (this is a social thing, I know; but that's what it would be
called in all of the places I grew up) to ask someone what color or
religion her/his parents were. Either the facts they are disseminating
are documentable from reputable sources, or they aren't. If somebody
states a logical and well-documented plan for remedying a political issue,
I don't give a fig whether that person is tagged "Liberal Democrat",
"Whig", "Christian Democrat" or "Communist". There are those who would
give the plan less than a fair go if they knew the proponent belonged
to Party X.

>>I am a human being interested in learning, period. After all, it never
>>hurts to know everything *:o)
>
>Is this rec.food.veg? When I am interested in carpentry I shall look for
>the appropriate newsgroup and I will carefully read both what the
>carpenters and the non-carpenters have to say.
>

My mind isn't nimble enough to make this leap. How is presenting accurate
information about scientific studies on (say) vitamin composition unrelated
to vegetarianism?

>Donata

Cheers,
Claudia