RadioBanter - View Single Post

September 30th 03, 03:10 PM

On 28 Sep 2003 04:19:05 GMT, ospam (Larry Roll K3LT)
wrote:

It was definitely the NCTA's who originated the code/no-code (testing)
debate on Fidonet, then Usenet. At least, it was they who threw the
first slings and arrows at the pro-coders (PCTA's) and making all the
now famous accusations of us being politically-incorrect in every
possible way, contributing to everything that is wrong in this world,
and seeking to keep the ARS technically archaic. I was there from the
beginning, so if you weren't, you'll just have to accept the word of
those of us who were.

Back in the days when I was on Fidonet (fight-o-net), I frequented
CIVLIB and some of the other echoes where the gun control debates were
going on, this being around the time when Chuck Shumer and Dianne
Feinstein were perpetrating the Brady Bill and Sarah Brady was running
Handgun, Inc. with the intention of abolishing all private ownership
of firearms in the U.S.

The only radio-related echo I was reading back then was the SCAN echo,
where the late Bill Cheek was the moderator at the time, so I'll have
to take your word on who threw the first slings and arrows.

However, a few weeks ago I happened to be having lunch near a local
high school just as the students were heading home from school, and I
saw two boys get into a fistfight. It started with a smart remark from
one of the boys aimed at another. The recipient replied in kind.

There followed several iterations of, "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!"

Next came a push...then a shove...and eventually the first punch was
thrown. The fight lasted about a minute, with no clear winner,
although both participants ended up with bloody noses, their clothes
were pretty messed up with mud and grass stains and blood all over
them - not to mention a hefty helping of dog droppings since the lawn
they picked to have their fight on belonged to the owner of a large
Irish Setter - and so by the end of the affair, they both looked (and
undoubtedly smelled) pretty disgusting.

It occurred to me that if, at any point during the events leading up
to the first punch being thrown, either one of the two boys had
decided he was above this sort of thing and walked away from it,
neither of them would have ended up smelling like dog dung. Too bad
for them that neither of them was smart enough to do that, or at least
to suggest that they pick a cleaner lawn to fight on. Since neither of
them did, they both share the responsibility for the fact that they
both came up looking and smelling like s**t, no matter which of them
tossed the original smart remark that started it all.

If it seems to you that I am drawing a parallel between this fistfight
between two schoolboys and the behavior of some of the participants in
this debate, it's because I am...and matters are compounded by the
fact that this is not an isolated incident between two boys in a
suburban city in the Northeastern U.S., it's right out here on the
Internet for the whole world to see...and smell.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York