If this argument hadn't come through here ten times before this, I
might not have minded; but this is something like the 11th go-around on
this, and the fact is that I have not yet seen ONE person change his or
her views on the subject one way or another. It's NOT a dialogue; it's
a series of monologues. People hit their marks, scream at the top of
their lungs, while somebody on the other side does the same.

The result is that it makes BOTH sides look like jerks, and the
important information that needs to be communicated gets drowned in all
the noise and vitriol. Once the conversation has descended to that
level, NO good cause is served.

Ironic thing is...the two sides have one thing in common. I've
received angry and abusive letters from BOTH sides in the debate for
my message. I've been called a fag-lover in one, and a right-winger in
another.

Anybody here remember an episode called "Infection?" Aside form its
(from its) problems, there was one line in particular I'd like to cite for
you: "You forgot the first rule of the fanatic: when you become obsessed
with the enemy, you BECOME the enemy." All I hear around here is
screaming, and y'know, you all sound alike after a while...and when both
sides begin using the same tactics, the same flames, the same instant
condemnation...congratulations, you have become the enemy in whose use of
those same techniques you find such disgust.

And this will probably get me *more* hate mail from both sides; which
means I must be fairly close to the truth. If I can offend BOTH sides,
then I'm doing my job properly.

I wouldn't mind so much if this was new...but we're now in our ninth
rerun of this conversation, and it's poisoning the well without changing
one person's mind about much of anything. Enough is enough. It not about
getting the truth out any longer; it's about who gets in the last word,
and who's the most indignant, and who's a butthead and who's an asshole.
This, to me, does not edify, ennoble or explicate the topic at hand.

We are rapidly becoming a nation that is polarized along every
possible line; gay vs. straight, feminist vs. conservative, pro-choice vs.
anti-choice...in a nation of laws we have started to resort to acts of
terror on large and small scales on either side of the spectrum. For two
hundred years we prided ourselves on the idea -- sometimes flawed, and
with occasional interruptions -- that we solved our problems at the ballot
box, not with bullets or trunchens or muggings or firebombings. But now
more and more both sides are frozen in concrete, opposing opinions are
no longer tolerated or are proof of disloyalty or stupidity or cupidity
or bigotry or immorality, people are reduced to stereotypes and jingoisms,
everybody's demonized and nobody *listens*. We don't talk with each other,
we yell AT each other. We are two steps away from madness and one step
away from Beirut.

In theory, people are here in this forum because they feel strongly
about Babylon 5, and the optimistic (despite many obstacles) view of the
future that we portray. Well, if you feel that way, I suggest you ALL
damn well start BUILDING the future instead of TEARING APART the present,
start talking TO one another not AT one another, because the future ain't
gonna GET here otherwise.

If people want to discuss this area in calm, measured tones, with some
measure of respect, fine. (And this applies to ALL areas of current hot
debate, not just this one.) If all you want to do is yell, over and over
and over...frankly, take a hike. There is a line between doing something
for a cause, and saying you're doing something for a cause when you're
just doing it out of ego, bruised or otherwise. Parse your soul and act
accordingly.

jms