Re: Off-Topic, New Orleans Images

Katharine,

Sure, the list is for discussions of alt photography regardless of
political persuasion or country of origin. And if anyone wants to do
a search of the archives they will find that I have studiously
avoided discussions of sensitive issues. However, the past history of
the list clearly shows that such discussions, so long as they remain
civil and do not last forever, are tolerated. That is a fact of life
of the list.

This situation is no different. However, it is different from the
analogy you establish to Turkish politics. Turkish politics if
essentially a local matter. US politics is of global interests
because the US is an empire in that it seeks to imposes its rules and
values in places all around the world. As a result, the policies of
the US do not baffle people in other countries. To the contrary, they
have a full understanding of them, and agree or disagree. And at this
point in time I think it is fair to say that current US foreign
policy is understood,widely, and generally though not universally,
despised. Anyone who travels abroad would be well ware of this fact.
So the thought that we should not discuss these issues on this forum
for fear of confusing our friends in other countries is, to put it
mildly, naive in the extreme.

Sandy

>Sorry about that empty message; I'm not sure how I did that. But I
>did mean to say something about this, and here it is below:
>
>
>On Apr 29, 2006, at 4:40 PM, Sandy King wrote:
>
>> Because in the end what is going on in New Orleans, the Gulf Coast
>>and Iraq is a lot more important than alt photography.
>
>But no matter how important it is, it is NOT alt photography. Tom is
>right; this list is for alt photographers regardless of their
>political persuasiion or country of origin, and it is disruptive to
>the list and disrespectful to individuals of different political
>viewpoints or extra-American geography to carry on discussions of US
>politics here. Imagine how baffled US participants would be if
>David and Loris suddenly started having an argument about Turkish
>politics on this public list. See, it's hard to imagine them doing
>this, which is my point.
>
>But on reflection, perhaps Liam is right; I might find a discussion
>of Turkish politics interesting. But not US politics, because
>feelings on all sides are so intense that I don't think it's a good
>idea to air them here.
>Katharine
Received on Sat Apr 29 18:42:15 2006