From: eeb1@ellis.uchicago.edu (e elizabeth bartley)
Subject: Re: SATs as an insult (to Brian McBean & Peter Nyikos)
Reply-To: eeb1@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 23:25:25 GMT

In article <nyikos.717795214@milo.math.scarolina.edu>
nyikos@math.scarolina.edu (Peter Nyikos) writes:
>In <1992Sep28.011929.20842@midway.uchicago.edu>
>eeb1@ellis.uchicago.edu (e elizabeth bartley) writes:

>>Peter, think about the fact that a lot of the pro-choicers around here
>>are absolutely convinced you're a brainless twit.

>Elizabeth, you ought to know by now that most of the ones who claim to be 
>convinced of it are among the bigger clowns in this talk.abortion
>group.

Clowns?  No.  Flamers, yes, by and large.

>I had a problem with seeing no responses to my posts for over a month,
>and when the responses started coming in, a great many were from clowns
>like Margolis and Hekhuis, and I tailored my responses to them accordingly.

>Even now I have the problem, that when I post something thoughtful,
>or informative, people often won't respond to it.  Look at all the

Yeah.  My theory is that a lot of people read News like I do: look at
posts, repling to the posts you can reply to quickly, and saving the
posts that require time or thought to respond to until you've got more
time ... and then never having the time.

>un-followed-up posts at the end of your table of contents.  It's the
>zanier ones, like the hang-gliding one and the Mirror, that seem
>to get more attention.  Thinking I am a brainless twit because of that
>would be like judging authors by only their more lighthearted writings.

Peter....  You are not being called a brainless twit because you make
jokes; we *like* jokes around here, as witness how popular drieux is.
You are being accused of being a brainless twit because of completely
serious articles along the lines of (oversimplified, but still
somewhat accurate):

Abortionists don't care about women.
  [ Proof? ]
There was this teenager who got multiple abortions from incest.  Pro-lifers
eventually reported her father; abortionists never did.
  [ Proof that the abortionists knew? ]
Well, it stands to reason.

It *does* seem reasonable that some abortionists were told.  But "seem
reasonable" is not strong enough to base accusations on.

>>  Admittedly, *all*
>>pro-lifers come in for a lot of abuse by pro-choicers (at least, I for
>>one can't think of an exception), but not all pro-lifers are assumed
>>stupid ... so don't assume that you're getting this treatment because
>>of your positions.

>>Cthulhu for President -- when you're tired of voting for the lesser of
>>2 evils.

>Now, if you were generally perceived as a pro-lifer, I would wager
>you would have been called a brainless twit for the above line by now.

If there existed a way to take that bet, I'd do it.  ("Brainless twit"
is not an accusation thrown at pro-lifers purely for flavor; people
wait for at least *some* evidence.  The accusation thrown around
trivially is "clueless twit".)

-- 
Pro-Choice                 Anti-Roe                     - E. Elizabeth Bartley
            Abortions should be safe, legal, early, and rare.

Cthulhu for President -- when you're tired of voting for the lesser of 2 evils.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion,talk.politics.misc,alt.sex,alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.elections,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush