I have been following Mr. Johnson for some time, and yes I have found his
comments obnxious, irritating, irrational, impertinent, pretentious,
overbearing, ill-conceived, and certainly ill-mannered. I tried,
occasionally, to wade through the verbiage to find the intent. Too often I
found little wheat among great amounts of chaff. In general, I found the
whole issue to be a fossil from the 60s and no more helpful to change today
than similar diatribes were 30 years ago. From my perspective it seemed that
Mr. Johnson did more to hurt those of us trying to change opinions, views,
and the way things are done than he did to help.
 
But all that was simply my opinion and I could live with Mr. Johnson by
simply reading what I wanted, and deleting the rest. I might occasionally
wonder why the profession was spending so much time and energy being angry,
but I had better things to worry about (still do, for that matter).
 
Now I understand that Mr. Johnson has been "filtered out." What an
intrigueing euphemism for censorship. I won't begin to argue whether list
servers have a right to honor free speech -- I'm not an attorney. To do so
seems overly legalistic anyway.
 
It seems we might better think about how such censorship affects us
philosophically. With so many dictating morals and behavior, I hate to see
anthropologists falling into the same social trap.
 
And we might even spend some time wondering whether the failure to accept Mr.
Johnson here and now bodes ill for the future. If Mr. Johnson irritates us
today, who on the list will irritate us, and be censored, tomarrow.
 
It seems that after hundreds of years we still tend to react, rather than
act. And we still don't have a very good understanding of how those seemingly
small reactions (like filtering Mr. Johnson) can have even bigger
consequences down the road.
 
So, among the many who probably respond to the "final word" with a muttered
"good riddance," I must disagree. I find the whole episode a sad reflection
on our ability to demand tolerance while being intolerant. I doubt that I
will convert anyone, or that the "filter" will be lifted, but I must go on
record as opposing this action.
 
Mike Trinkley
Chicora Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 8664
Columbia, SC  29202-8664
803/787-6910
E-mail: [log in to unmask]