The Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience

 
Subj: Terms of Service
Date: 98-09-11 02:54:49 EDT
From: TOSBoards2
To: FG
Dear Member,
I need to let you know that America Online was notified of a post to one of
our message boards which violates the Terms of Service.  Here is the
information I have placed on the account regarding this incident:
On 9/9/98 6:58 AM Eastern Daylight  EST the FG screen name posted a
message in Baha'i Message Boards, For Non Baha'is >> Subject: Re: Literal-
minded Bahai ignorance.  The following is an excerpt from the post: " The
typical response of Bahai fanatics....
FG:
"Some of the most striking methods demonstrated repeatedly by
many Bahais during the last year and a half of discussion about
an unmoderated newsgroup is their refusal to listen and respond to
the criticisms of those who are in favor of talk.religion.bahai,
ignoring their concerns, never responding analytically to their
messages and reasoning and logic and evidence, attacking them
through character assassination and ad hominem, ganging up
on individuals, and "circling the wagons" around every action
of the srb moderators or others who are opposed to
talk.religion.bahai.
"More than twenty different people on my web site have posted messages
explaining their experience with srb censorship yet many srb Bahais
NEVER address their concerns. Ignoring such charges will not make
them go away.  NO ONE has to "try" to link the trb interest poll with
censorship on srb; the moderators themselves have done that by
suppressing droves of people for years. There are many people who
believe such suppression is part and parcel of the Bahai
community as it exists today. A YES vote need not necessarily
support such a belief. There are other reasons Bahais might vote
YES."

Ron House:
"I know what you mean. I've found over the years that
there is a technique used by traditional Baha'is and
others to squash dissension: harry the dissenter so
much he says something intemperate, then point out
how 'loving' and 'compassionate' they are and how
nasty the dissenter is. The trouble is that this
technique works, so I've been making a conscious
effort not to fall for it. Also, when they get the
dissenter discouraged and miserable enough, he
invariably makes a slip-up sooner or later that they
can REALLY let loose the venom over. IMHO, they did
this to you when you misread Sharon's intentions.
At any other time, they would overlook faults, as
Baha'u'llah says, but when they're in this mode
they go for the jugular. Very sad."
House2.htm

Fran Baker:
"Just have to say that in my experience this is a common
technique of manipulative people in general; it is especially
effective with thoughtful people who are willing to see both
sides of things, i.e., their own fault. I consider this brow-beating
technique to be a form of abuse. The only way to deal with it is
to call them on it every time and to refuse to let yourself be beat
up, i.e., not to do your part of the "tango." This can be very hard
to do, but it works.You can break this pattern in a personal
relationship. I don't know whether it's possible when a group
acts this way. Very scary."

Dr. Juan Cole:
"Let me ask you why in the world you think that I would risk my professional
reputation by publicly stating falsehoods?  ...The very technique of the
more glaze-eyed among these people is to unbearably bully a Baha'i whom
they don't like, use unjustified threats of declaring him or her a CB to
silence the individual, and if the person will not be silenced, then to
depend upon the gullibility of the Baha'is in refusing to listen to any
victim's story because, of course, the Baha'i institutions are infallible
and divinely guided and could never do anything wrong.  It is a perfect
racket.
"Of course, this technique of making liberals go away has been enormously
successful, and ex-Baha'i liberals have no credibility with the remaining
Baha'is nor do most of them have any energy to continue to make a case,
either to the Baha'is or the outside world, for the incredible abuses that
go on inside this organization ostensibly committed to tolerance!"
Cole10.htm

FG....The Bahai Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience:
index.htm  See alt.religion.bahai,
talk.religion.misc, or bahai-faith@makelist.com (accepts all "cc" posts)
Subscription & archive: https://www.findmail.com/listsaver/bahai-faith/
baha'i

baha'i"
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Regards,
Bill
Community Action Team
America Online, Inc.
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