What are you buttuming the end is, in this case?
I think he is sometimes way too blunt with sensitive souls and hurts their feelings, but it pays to look at exactly the graded way exchanges with him escalate, and you'll learn something.
He can speak for himself (and right now I'm talking about him like he's dead, but that won't worry him!) but I think the confusion tends to be on the other side, when he says offensive things. They end up out of their comfort zone and respond in kind. That's a one-way ticket down the path to nowhere. I've been there.
Is usually sooner rather than later if your argument is weak and the invective is strong.
If you want to trawl far enough back through usenet postings (and trust me, it's not worth it!), you will find that in my exchanges with him I've been down that road to full flushed-down-the-dunny status on a number of occasions. He made me genuinely angry one or two times years ago (I don't get angry with anyone any more, including him, on usenet; it's not worth it!) and those were occasions when I believe I had it right on the facts and he had it wrong and he wouldn't listen to what I was saying. But on others, the attacks came when my arguments were a bit shaky, and I know at heart there was an element of resentment on my part for his being able to puncture them too easily. We may rip into each other again on some matters because we are poles apart on a lot of issues, but one thing's for sure - I'll won't go in with weak arguments.
If you imagine I agree with him when I think he's wrong, that's your problem. But it hasn't happened yet and isn't likely to. The last person he'll respect is anyone who he thinks is agreeing with him just to avoid a confrontation.
Let's hope it stays that way. I'm with anyone who wants to keep it like that. Hey on that matter - a question - it was said on the news that someone got jailed for burning the Australian flag. Is that a criminal offence in this country? I thought it was just the Yanks who went that far. In my book if you want to burn any piece of cloth or paper no matter what's written on and who it might offend, you should have the right to do it as long as you don't go against the fire regulations.
Rifty -- Academic and Computing Help
