[thechat] Syed Zeeshan Haider

[William Anderson]

---- Original Message ----
From: "Luther, Ron" <Ron.Luther at hp.com>
To: <thechat at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 2:00 PM
Subject: RE: [thechat] Syed Zeeshan Haider

> [snip]
>
> In a way, I kinda feel for the guy.  My guess is he's pretty young
> and lives in or close enough to the 'hood' that this stuff has an
> immediacy for him that maybe we can't directly relate to.  I can
> almost hear the frustration that things that are so upsetting and
> powerful for his experience elicit little or no reaction from his
> 'friend in the West'.  Nice friends, eh?

I think it starts to boil down to relevancy.  Indian military atrocities
against Pakistani soldiers, while horrid and completely pointless in this
modern age, are not as relevant to me directly than, say, the sectarian
divide between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, which
routinely spill over (although not as violently) into Central Scotland.

I suspect Syed would be more concerned with the Pakistani/Indian problems
than my local problems with Northern Ireland.

There are many crises and hotspots around the world where trouble is flaring
up - Kashmir is very visible in the public eye due to the potential
deployment of nuclear weapons being in the picture too.  And it's healthy to
discuss such things in public forums.

BUT ... thechat is listed as a "social forum", and while I understand that
'serious' discussions can take place in a social environment (perhaps eating
out with friends, or discussing current events in the street with people, or
whatever), my understanding of thechat is that it's a place for evolters to
hang, and chill out.  It's more akin to a light party than a round table
with respect to discussions and relevant topics.  Yes, some of what gets
posted here is fluff and shite - indeed, I was on a similar mailing list
while at uni called 'fluff' specifically designed to post websites, random
emails and generally just shite - what also happens here is interaction
between friends, colleagues and peers.

I personally don't see thechat as a political soapbox for people to stand up
on and persistently batter away at issues which, to be frank, do not concern
me.  Syed has repeatedly posted about the issues in Pakistan in what I
construed as a rather aggressive manner, the last couple of posts linking to
those two news items in particular, and I don't like the manner in which
this particular issue is being presented.  That was pretty much my reason
for filtering out Syed's posts, his insistent badgering of thechat on random
trivia was a minor sidepoint in relation.

Apologies to the list if i'm totally off base in this, or if i come off as
some kind of opinionated asshole with an agenda to bear - I'm not and I
don't.  To be honest, I'm more concerned with my immediate life (working,
paying mortgage, getting through recent breakup, etc) than Pakistan, India,
Northern Ireland, Syed, et al, so you'll forgive me if in fact the
opinionated asshole image appears valid! :)

--
_ __/|   ___  ___ __ _________  "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
\`O_o'  / _ \/ -_) // / __/ _ \  for Sega." -- Brodie, 'Mallrats'
=(_ _)=/_//_/\__/\_,_/_/  \___/ @ well.com :: William Anderson
   U - Ack! Phttpt! Thhbbt!     http://neuro.me.uk/