Re: Suggesting a Poll

On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:40:33 -0800, Michael Press
<rubrum@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Have I only posted 19 messages that stand up to
net bullies? I must be as cowardly as I think I am.

Indeed, I'm having a bit of a moral struggle with myself over this.

Mathematics is the most important thing, and there is a real value
in just letting the nonsense slide by, as if it didn't exist. But
it is not a virtue to pretend something isn't going on, when it is,
and you might be able to do something about it. Also, I despise the
idea of guilt by association. If I wanted to get quite nauseatingly
sanctimonious, I could even mention a certain personage who wasn't
ashamed to consort with "outcasts, prostitutes, and tax-gatherers".
.... Pass the sick bucket, please! <boke> Anyway, I just don't like
the idea of keeping my nose clean in order to /look/ respectable.

Bill, can you at least redefine your Index of Mathematical Wickedness
so that it is based solely on postings in the most recent year? Then
some of us apparently damned souls might still have a chance of being
saved, after all! Thank you. (Can you tell I'm hedging my bets here?)

I really hope this naming and shaming won't make me think twice before
taking a stand when it's actually needed. Also, I respect galathaea
and Aatu, who are both near me on the list. (N.B. of the thirty or so
others who are at the top of the list, I only really disrespect about
half a dozen, so I don't mean to insult anybody merely by not naming
them!) So perhaps I can respect myself as well. Finally, thanks to
the guy who just sent me a supportive e-mail, when I really needed it.

Damn, I just wish I could forget this! It's every bit as much a part
of the nonsense as the nonsense it purports to deal with. But having
your name up their on a List, in public, is very, very hard to ignore.

--
Angus Rodgers
.

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