🚀 go-pugleaf

ba> Brian Andreja
gs> Gary Strand

gs> A little more preparation and courtesy, by everyone, will go a long way to
    making the PKer's visit a pleasant one.

ba> Hold on a moment. What has "pleasant" got to do with it? 

  Would you rather have obnoxious PKers or tolerable ones?

ba> McCartney and many many of the PKers advocate passing laws which some 
    would consider to be oppressive, fascist and homophobic. 

  And as such, are no different from "many many" people who aren't PKers. If
  50,000 people showed up for a conference which advocated nationalizing the
  health care system, complete government provision of jobs, shelter and other
  necessities as demanded, and control of television broadcasts for content,
  they'd be no less oppressive or fascist. I suspect there are more people
  in Boulder at least sympathetic to this latter set of ideas than there are
  PKers who are as evil and grotesque as you imply.

ba> There are many among the religous right that advocate replacing democracy
    with a theocracy based upon literal biblical interpretation.

  And there are many among the antireligious who advocate the elimination of
  any sort of religious influence in anything, for example, the latest EEOC
  proposed guidelines for getting rid of religious discrimination in the work-
  place. An employee could get in trouble for reading her Bible at her desk.
  Is that what we really want?

ba> Sure, they have the right to meet and express their opinions. But their
    host community also has the right to do the same. There are many people
    from gays and lesbians to indigenous americans and many women who would
    suffer if PK "*values* were written into law.

  I've never said Boulderites shouldn't disagree or voice their opinions in
  regards to the PKers. What I have said is that Boulder can't claim itself
  to be tolerant and diverse when more than a few people would just as soon
  have the PKers drop into a black hole, never to return. That's the same at-
  titude many so-called intolerant communities have towards other groups. In
  other words, if Colorado Springs is allegedly gay-hateful, and is thus in-
  tolerant, how can Boulder claim the mantle of tolerance when it hates the
  PKers? Aren't both merely prejudicial attitudes?

  Besides, not just PKers hold values, that if written into law, would hurt
  people. Some of the stuff that gets lectured at CU would be quite bad also.
  For example, if the radical weirdo feminists decided what was smut and what
  wasn't. Or if the crusty old Lefties who seem to proliferate at universities
  decided economic policy. The PKers hardly have a monopoly on lousy values.

ba> BTW, I saw some bumper stickers that say "HERE TO PISS OFF THE RELIGIOUS
    RIGHT" down at Aria on Broadway.

  I've always thought of getting an appropriate anti-liberal bumper sticker
  on my car, but I'd just as soon avoid the hassle of repairing it if it was
  vandalized.
--
Gary Strand                                     Opinions stated herein are mine
strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu                         alone and are not representative
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cscor/gary/index.html         of NCAR, UCAR, or the NSF