[talk-au] What A Day

[Elizabeth Dodd]

The quiet and languid mailing list of normally laid back Australians
exploded into vitriolic exchanges after a non-Australian hijacked a
thread on the list. 
A number of listees found themselves offended by rash statements and
then attempts were made to claim that white was black and black was
white.
I understand that this mail will not be read by the offending poster*,
as I would happily say that I am a friend of John Smith. I don't always
agree with him, but certainly we can discuss our differences without
the need for alcohol to keep the peace.
I am quite disturbed by the failure of the offending poster to even
follow the thread of his own argument. Sadly, I have to deal with
people like this every day, as I do see a large number of elderly and
dementing people in my job.

My biggest concern is quite different. What provoked this virtual visit
to the list? Why are rabble rousing Australians such a threat to a
world wide project? I thought that it came from our ability to think
for ourselves and make our own decisions, but the accusation was made
that we were drawn to our ways by the influence of a single Pom.

I have no recall of the offending poster appearing on the list before,
but do not claim to have searched the archives to support this
hypothesis. 
So what has caused this earthquake and corresponding tsunami?



* ie, the one who caused offence