From: eeb1@quads.uchicago.edu (e elizabeth bartley)
Subject: Re: An introduction
Reply-To: eeb1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 04:54:48 GMT

In article <1992Nov8.041843.7516@midway.uchicago.edu>
mss2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1992Nov8.031548.6030@midway.uchicago.edu>
>eeb1@midway.uchicago.edu writes:

>>I'm at the University of Chicago; I think I already know everyone 
>>posting to alt.callahans who knows the U of C.  If not, we can 
>>chat in e-mail and not bore the others....   Netwise, I'm known 
>>as "Bess" on a couple of MU*s, but I haven't been around there 
>>much lately.  I used to participate heavily in talk.abortion (see 
>>the .sig; I plan to change it since I expect Clinton to make it a 
>>moot point

>	"The part about voting for the lesser of two evils?"  Michael
>asks, deliberately misconstruing.  "Yeah, I guess Clinton's already
>made that a moot point."  :-)

<chuckle>

>), but I've gotten thoroughly sick of the continual 
>>flamewar and the way the same arguments go around and around and 
>>around in circles.

>	"All I can say is that your ability to tolerate the
>talk.abortion environment while remaining reasonable goes beyond any
>other sane person I know of.  I couldn't even handle the lesser trial
>of alt.politics.elections for a scant few months, and a.p.e. at least
>had new election developments to keep things moving.  If there's a
>net.Order.of.Merit for keeping one's head when all about you are
>losing theirs you should probably be in the running.  :-)"

<chuckle again>

I have an unfair advantage: I'm not all that emotionally involved in
the abortion issue.  Oh, I have strong opinions -- but really it's
mostly an intellectual issue for me.  I've never thought that
anything's going to get beyond women having to travel out of state to
get an abortion, and while I don't like it I can live with it.

I did get upset when James Keegan started flaming me for calling
myself "pro-choice" when I support third-trimester restrictions....
Things like following up any post that left him an opening with "Does
this mean you no longer support punishing women for having abortions?"
and quoting me as having called for short jail terms for women having
abortions -- perfectly accurate quotes, but out of context so that it
isn't clear this is only third trimester.  But I put Keegan in my
KILLfile (created a KILLfile just for him, actually).  By now when I
see Keegan (and a couple of his cronies) flaming me, my attitude is
"Keep make yourself looking like a trigger-happy flamelord twit,
dear...."  Ironic to enjoy being flamed; the advantage of having
enough reputation that people *know* the flamers are being unfair.

Anyway, I haven't seen any Keegan-type "pick a target and flame it on
sight" in alt.callahans, and hope I never will.

>>Herewith will follow vast quantities of politics....  And my 
>>apologies in advance if I go into a subject that's just been done 
>>to death; when I said "occasional lurker", I did mean occasional.

>	Michael offers Beth a salute as she heads immediately into the
>breach.  "Good luck, Beth.  Oh, by the way, one phenomenon I should
>warn you about in case you haven't caught it in your lurking-- when
>one speaks at length on a serious subject, there's a tendency to find
>oneself at the top of an ever growing pile of soapboxes.  I know this
>far too well-- I seem to spend a significant fraction of my time in
>the upper atmosphere.  You may want to borrow this."  Michael hands
>Beth a parachute.  "Very useful for getting back down without injury
>when you're done.  Oh... and Mike,"  Michael turns to the bartender
>and puts a dollar down.  "Beth's first drink here is on me."

Beth takes a firm grasp of the parachute, being sure she'll need it
soon, and then orders a coke (real, not diet).

-- 
    Beth Bartley               Delurked -- Hi, all!
                "Kbox fall down go boom."    - Ron Levy
"He who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who
dares not, is a slave."                - William Drummond
Newsgroups: alt.callahans