Wal-Mart and more

[Dave Land]

On Feb 17, 2008, at 11:00 PM, Doug Pensinger wrote:

> Dan wrote:
>
>> 1) Are you interested in a discussion on the vision of myself and
>> at least one other person who was an active poster that discussions
>> are often thwarted by pronouncements that come as if they come from
>> Olympus, rather than arguments that folks want others to discuss so
>> the author can test their own ideas?
>
> I'm certainly interested in a good discussion, but I find it very
> difficult to debate with you because you are a very prolific writer
> with no apparent limit on the time you have to research a topic.

I'm almost a week behind on this list: I've been participating in a
Socrates Society seminar at the Aspen Institute, and I've been sick as
a dog.

As much as I want to brag about the fact that I got to attend such a
prestigious event, my main point is that Dan's complaint about the poor
quality of discourse on this list and Doug's frustration with Dan's
extraordinarily detailed posts were both handled so well in the seminar.

The quality of the discussion and the remarkably respectful manner in
which it took place were inspiring. At least in part because of the
ground rules. Comments were expected to be substantive, but short:
when the moderator acknoledged you, you had about two minutes to make
your contribution. That would be about the length of this email.

Despite the fact that there were some people in the room who could have
filled an entire afternoon with fascinating speech, everybody --  
including
the moderators, historian Sean "Worst President In History?" Wilentz and
former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards -- strove to be succinct.

Perhaps we can give each other the same gift?

Dave