From: YU ZIR <YUZIR@webtv.net>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Choice
Date: Friday, June 26, 1998 6:25 PM
Bill Brewer's confidence in the Baha'i institutions is all well and
fine. As I said in a previous post, SRB is the nicest NG I've ever been
thrown out of.
But as an outsider, I can perhaps see the point Fred Glaysher is making,
and which point none of SRB's defenders seem to address. The moderators
at SRB probably do a generally good job in most instances. Their
efforts and hard work will be appreciated by anyone who has never run
afoul of them. We might liken this to most people's attitude toward the
police. We all love them, until (may this never happen to you) we
encounter that rare cop who abuses his authority. Suddenly, the entire
institution of the law takes up for the bad cop, since no one in that
institution wishes to believe that cops can go bad (even thought they
know in the abstract that it happens). This subjects the abused, loyal
citizen to extreme stress.
In Fred's case I speculate, (since it happened to me), the milk went
sour early on in the interchanges with SRB, and particularly with Bill
H. In my case, my attempts to ameliorate the hostility that I sensed
from Bill H were, as I perceived it, rebuffed by him. No problem for
me. My response was simple and effective: to walk away from SRB and
post on ARB.
Fred Glaysher's situation may be more difficult since he regards
himself as one of the faithful, and therefore feels more keenly the
sting of injustice. Or maybe not, I'm just guessing.
My personal impression of SRB is that it is in the hands of cadre
loyalists who can be adequately defended on the technical letter of the
law, but who really do as much as they can get away with to discourage
those of us who make cogent arguments they don't like. That would
cause me discomfort if an organization I belong to did that.
If you're comfortable with SRB, support it. Just don't cross
them.