From: abulsari@abo.fi (Abhay Bulsari VT)
Subject: There used to be someone called Michael Traub
Organization: Abo Akademi University
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 06:59:34 GMT

I got this in the mail this morning. I have not corrected
any mistakes I have noticed in it (e.g. Michael is vegan, not
just vegetarian).

A man by the name :

MICHAEL TRAUB
 
It  is odd  how one  takes for granted  how fortunate we are to have a
direct  dialogue  at  any  time  with  such committed and  experienced
vegetarians like Michael Traub who had greatly enhanced and generously
helped  this  conference  with  his  assiduous  postings  of  ORIGINAL
recipes, HELPFUL and INFORMED advice, and even his SPIRITED defense of
vegetarianism to those  who  would undermine the case for  its evident
health, ecological and  ethical advantages.  Indeed, he did us service
in  this latter  dirty task, saying  bluntly what I am sure most of us
practicing vegetarians would also liked to have  said but  simply were
too timid  to  do so.  For the most  part,  my readings  of  Michael's
messages show him to not to be rude unless provoked by the rudeness or
sarcastic nettling  of others.  Of course, we  all have our lapses and
become  sometimes unduly impatient,  but let us  not  let  such lapses
overshadow the very positive contributions Michael has made.
 
Indeed, I am now very  grieved  to see Michael Traub no longer posting
his  informed, to the point (unlike my more prolix messages :-) ), and
never uninteresting  comments.  Maybe what is especially disheartening
is that so few fellow vegetarians have rallied around to encourage and
support this  most vocal member  or ours, one who  has  been  repeated
maligned and attacked  by avowedly  stubborn omnivores who really have
no interest in advancing vegetarianism.
 
Michael Traub, for me, was the single most interesting  poster on this
conference.  From him, I learned more about  being a vegan than anyone
else  on this conference.  With him now discouraged and dissuaded from
further posting of his messages, there is really little to now attract
my further participation.   Certainly, I don't care to replace Michael
who would attempt to defend  fellow vegetarians from this  minority of
defensive omnivores.   I'm  just not up to  the task.  Indeed, Michael
simply  enjoyed helping  fellow  vegetarians  with their  queries  and
really  did  not  want  to always be  called upon  to  set the  record
straight   with   respect    to    the   kinds    of   misconceptions,
misunderstandings,  and   misbehavings   of  some  of  our  omnivorous
kibitzers.
 
Why  are  these  defensive omnivores here?  What is  their  purpose in
degrading what often could be  an intelligent and interesting dialogue
into a  mere  flame?  Do only  a few vegetarians  recognize that  this
conference is being undermined not by  fellow vegetarians but by those
few defensive omnivores with their interminable quibbling, mean-spirit
and destructive remarks, and outright insults?
 
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End of mail

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-- 
A. Bulsari                                       Tel.  358 (21) 654 721
V{rmeteknik, ]bo Akademi                         Fax   358 (21) 654 792
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