[Vision2020] Jack Hill and citizen empowerment

[Gregory Dickison]

Melynda:

Very well put.

Gregory C. Dickison
Lawyer & Counselor at Law
Post Office Box 8846
208 South Main #2
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-4009

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey@hotmail.com>
To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 11:58 AM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Jack Hill and citizen empowerment


> Judy writes:
>
> >As a reader and (not-frequent) poster to Vision 20/20, I'm afraid I'd be
> >inclined to agree with J. Hill's characterization of V20/20. It does
> >promote
> >polarization. It does give, new readers especially, a skewed view of our
> >community (refer to postings just this week)
>
> The article connected with some thoughts I've been mulling over about
Vision
> 2020 in the last couple of days.  I may well be one of the residents Jack
> was scolding for intolerance and impoliteness; I've certainly posted some
> sharp words.  And that's okay with me.  But I disagree that our listserv
> "fuels" polarization.
>
> The polarization(s) pre-existed the listserv.  People with mutually
> incompatible worldviews, dozens of them, live in Moscow.  Our peaceful
> co-existence cannot depend on our local government, or on citizens
> preserving a smiling failure to communicate.
>
> Vision 2020 focuses a certain element of our community--it's certainly not
> representative of all of Moscow--and has fostered some conversations that
> would probably not have happened otherwise.  They haven't always been
> pleasant conversations, but they have sometimes been useful, it seems to
me.
>
> We also represent a lot of different discourse communities.  Academics,
> lawyers, theologians, and politicians spend their working lives arguing.
We
> expect passionate dispute, and we generally enjoy it.  Other discourse
> communities experience that kind of conversation as painful,
inappropriate,
> or pointless.  We have different ethical understandings of the value of
> speaking up or remaining silent.  And we have different degrees of
> confidence in our own contributions--some of us (like me) may feel
> over-empowered about sharing, while others hang back who could offer
> something of value.
>
> I think our community needs more conversation, not less--and I don't think
> we always need to smile.
>
> Melynda Huskey
>
> Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
> Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
> Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
> Cannot bear very much reality.
> Burnt Norton, T.S. Eliot
>
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