On Mon, 23 Jun 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > On Mon, 23 Jun 2003, Gomi no Sensei wrote: > > On Mon, 23 Jun 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: > > > > On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: > > > > > But not all coups are military in nature (refer for example to Florida in > > > > > 2000, or Dallas in 1963). > > > > It is difficult for me to see how off-handedly referring to the outcome > > of the 2000 election as a 'coup' can result in anything other than a long > > and tedious flamewar, accompanied by an inevitable and simultaneous > > coarsening and lowering of the standards of discourse hereabouts, and must > > therefore ask you nicely to refrain. > > It can fail to result in a flamewar by everyone taking a deep breath and > ignoring what they consider provocative. If you want to compare > homosexuality to bestiality or whatever the conservative coup-comment- > equivalent is, I'll remain mum. If nothing else, you might consider > whether 1963 was clearly a coup attempt and how that reflects on the > writer's opinion about 2000... Responding to a polite request to cease trolling with more trolling is not what one would generally consider to be 'on.' I feel that, in order to test your advice re: ignoring provocative material, someone really should post a large batch of such material, just to gauge the lack of reaction. It seems to me that it would ill-serve the list's stated purpose, however. gomi