[ExI] META: A modest proposal for the Extropy-Chat list

[Fred C. Moulton]

On Wed, 2009-04-29 at 15:36 +0200, Stefano Vaj wrote:


> On the contrary, I suspect that a much stricter requirement to stay on
> topic, which includes constantly justifying one's position in view of
> the said Principles (be it in terms of adherence, or even just in
> terms of *relevance*) would be enough to avoid 99% of what might be
> perceived as embarassing, exploitative, irritating, provocative,
> propaganda-sounding, or simply boring.
> 
> Moreover, the choice to concentrate on this aspect has the distinct
> advantage of avoiding any hint of censorship as to the merits of the
> positions expressed, while at the same time achieving in a subtler and
> less disturbing way the same goals - keeping the list on track and
> retaining its flavour.

Stefano has suggested some things well worth considering.  What I still
have trouble with is how clearly outrageous material will be handled.
Will this list become a platform for material which advocates actions
which are against the Extropian Principles and would be considered as
crimes against humanity?  Consider the following passage which was
posted to this list about a month ago:
  "As soon as recognizable underclasses
  begin to form, they ought to have been either massively
  deported, or subjected to resettlement on reservations,
  where they'd be compelled to go back to agriculture or
  any kind of honest toil in order to survive."
Is this part of the Extropian vision?  I hope not.  I hope that the
Extropian community has not become so callous as to overlook on the list
someone advocating deporting the "underclasses".

Several people have mentioned being able to seriously discussion
critical issues.  One thing that concerns me is that was no serious
analysis and discussion was done on the list to see if there even was a
problem.  It was as if a two or three sentence fig leaf was thrown up so
that some sick idea about expelling the underclass or deporting Muslims
could be expounded.  I do not see that any serious discussion or
analysis was done on this list before the talk of expelling and
deporting started.

Fred

> Just my two (Euro) cents...
> 
> -- 
> Stefano Vaj
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