Hello, dear CHOMSKY listers,

In a message dated  1 May 97 at 17:47, Don DeBar says that he will
follow the guidelines, but doubts that the free fall we are
experiencing with our membership is the only culprit. He further
suggests that those who find excessive quoting a nuisance should
delete the "extra" test, or the whole message after reading it.

Examining the quality of postings on CHOMSKY list, I find that almost
all rules set in the guidelines are trespassed with the sole
exception of flaming (thank goodness!).

Personal messages posted on the list, excessive quotation, and
something else, a very poor tendency to follow a thread seriously and
in depth. Albeit I could not label postings as irrational,
rationality is not used in full fledge, when it is obvious most
subscribers have the educational level and the wits to do it.

For instance, I have posted mails on issues related to
psychopathology and its incidence on a new truly democratic society,
as is the purpose of this list. It has had little or no repercussion.
It's importance cannot possibly overemphasized. You may not know
about psychiatry, psychology, and so on. If so, why not asking? Why
not requesting for more complete explanation?

A list such as CHOMSKY should practice what it preaches.

Particularly placing the others's rights and preferences over one's
own. Altruism should blossom. Cooperation and humbleness, a sense of
a virtual community acting agonistically, respect for the community,
plain openness of one's ignorance and hence respectfully requesting
how to obtain germane information, should be the main attributes
of CHOMSKY list.

Acting as though this was a common list on any establishment-
servile forum serving the interests of the powerful makes it all the
more conspicuous because of its inherent gross contradictions, thus
jeopardizing the purpose of this forum and turning it into a kind of
Babel.

Thus, this tends to become a repository of wishful thinking without
any influence on our ways to see life from Chomsky's perspective.

I would be grateful if you took these words into consideration, and
would also like to get your reactions to it particularly on the
paragraph which reads: "A list such as CHOMSKY should practice what
it preaches."

But I beg you to reflect on these matters before replying.
Impulsiveness is not the best of advisers.

With good wishes to you all,


Juan Carlos Garelli, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Early Development
University of Buenos Aires

Find Attachment Research Center Home Page at:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3041