[Vision2020] [] crossing the line

Fri May 19 15:42:20 PDT 2006

If you say so Michael. 

  _DJA

Michael <metzler at moscow.com> wrote:                        st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                              Donavan,

    Most of my time enjoying charitable discourse with folks on Vision 2020  happened before I became a public critic of Doug Wilson.  First, nobody  knew I was a Christian.  Then, everyone knew I was a Christian but not a  kirker.  Then everyone knew that I was a Christian and a kirker when I was  forced to defend Doug Wilson and Christ   Church.  Through all  three stages I was able to enjoy rational and charitable discussions with many  on Vision 2020.  And no doubt some local conservative Christians feel no  different than many ‘liberals’ here on this list about your quote below.   Given all this, I’m not sure what your argument could be here.  Feel  free to further explain.  I hope you would be willing to respond a bit  more to my note to you.

    Thanks
    Michael Metzler 

    Michael,
    "The  Elders of Christ Church Kick Pooh Out"    
  Liberals love you. 

  Best Regards,

  _DJA

  Michael  <metzler at moscow.com> wrote: 
    Donavan  Writes:

    The Liberal rules on Vision 2020 are simple and fair. If a liberal  expresses an opinion, and attacks you or a member of your family, that is fine.  If you attack back, respond, or explain yourself, you are resorting to  mudslinging and personal attacks. That is the way Vision2020 works now, it is  the way it has worked in the past, and it is the way it will work in the  future. . . .Vision 2020 is now just a pointless listserve for people with big  mouths and little brains to express disgust in others that differ from them.  Too bad, it could have been something special. Now it is just the Ghetto of the  Palouse.

    Me:

    Donavan, I wish you would respond to those you disagree with in a more  dignified, charitable, and argumentative way.  There are  ‘liberals’ that post to this list that are capable of doing this,  and they have done so many enjoyable times over.  Considering that I am  just as ‘conservative’ as you, if not more so, and yet entirely  disagree with your assertions above, I would think that they require an  argument or some charitably placed supportive evidence.  I really am  hoping that this list doesn’t entirely implode before I get a chance to  enjoy the discussions here again, and so I’m going to ask you Donovan,  given your profession of Christianity, to help lead the way; please respond to  your opponents with disciplined kindness. In so far as you want to assert what  you have above, I will challenge the veracity of your claims.  I do not  believe this is asking much, and I hope you don’t take it as my asking  much; as you know, we are commanded to do this by the
 incarnate God to whom you  claim allegiance.  I did not want to write a post like this, but I’m  not sure how I could continue my following of this list without expressing this  worry and exhortation. I think you have some good points that should be heard,  but they often get covered up by unnecessary rhetoric and personal attacks. If  this is done to you, then turn a cheek or something.  Thank you. 

    Along these same lines, you might find the comments below applicable;  I’m pasted them from a recent entry on my own Blog.

    Thanks
    Michael
    www.poohsthink.com  

    You can see Wilson’s typical  offensive move against the “intoleristas” here.  Wilson’s  dishonesty in dealing with Vision 2020 and the “intoleristas” has  been pointed out here in the Wood a number of times already. In fact, it was my  own “taking a peek” at this Vision 2020 stuff that helped open my  own eyes to what kind of stuff Wilson fed us kirkers on a weekly basis. It has  been standard practice for Wilson to find the most poorly reasoned or prima facie false statements uttered in  the last month out of hundreds of posts (from the standpoint of his followers  anyway) and display it on his blog for annihilation. The last time he did this,  he claimed that what he was presenting was the typical sort of argument one would find  on Vision 2020, when in fact, which Wilson  knew, it was the most untypical.
    For those of you who do not follow Vision 2020 carefully, let me give  you some basic facts about our little situation here in Moscow.  Many of the common posters to Vision 2020 have intellectual and argumentative  abilities that compare to, and in some ways, surpass, that of Wilson’s.  Some of them are highly rigorous, others more passionate, and others more  witty. When up against Wilson  one on one, I’m sure they would have an interesting fight. But what of  Jones? Jones got off Vision 2020 the day I got on, and what he was doing there  was silly and offensive; it was certainly no real match for the various  passionate intellects that frequent there. But a balanced analysis would not compare  Wilson and Jones to Vision 2020 posters in the first place. Not only are Vision  2020 guys and gals mere “laymen” in contrast to the fearless  national leaders at Anselm House, they have all as a group been ridiculed  consistently and confidently by Wilson and other kirkers as
 blind, venomous  idiots who can do nothing but band together in secret to cook up the next evil  and irrational plot against Doug Wilson.
    Well, have I mentioned anything yet about Doug Wilson being a liar?  Here is a perfect example of his deceit, deceit that I was lulled by for a  total of three years before joining the Vision 2020 group myself. Vision 2020  is primarily composed of all sorts of people, including conservatives,  liberals, secularists, agnostics, theists, conservative Christians, liberal  Christians, new Christians, old Christians, atheists, theists, deists,  veterans, lawyers, professors, writers, retired corporate folks, and so on and  so forth. In other words, it is composed of our local Moscow  neighbors. Only the growing “Village” paranoia that Wilson is seeking to generate causes kirkers  and Wilson’s  conservative sidekick Dale   Courtney to categorize and demonize  “Venom2020” the way they do.
    So to continue our comparison in a more balanced way, what of the  Greyfriar graduates who post on Vision 2020? or Mr. Farris? or what of the  purple flying-clown-elephant Deacon James? Any skim of Vision 2020 makes it  clear that some of the most non-argumentative, irrational, smug, arrogant,  unhelpful posts come directly out from the educated elite of the Kirk —  although I’ve noticed a slight change of late. Period; this is simply a  fact. One of the last Kirker posts to me on Vision 2020 had as its primary  thesis that I had failed to spell Greyfriars correctly. Another irrationally  hurled accusations at me, about 10 in three paragraphs in fact — and this  is to a fellow kirker! The question at this point folks, is not whether or not  the kirkers on Vision 2020 are displaying fine Christian culture — they  most certainly aren’t by any normal person’s definition of  “Christian” or “culture.” The question is rather what  social group here in Moscow,  based on the
 thin society of Vision 2020, truly deserves the label of  “venom” and “intolerista.” Furthermore, and this makes  Wilson’s last attack against the “intoleristas” today all the  more interesting, there has been a nice barrage of non-kirker conservatives,  conservative Christians in fact, seen on Vision 2020. And it looks like they  are currently trying to win the venom and intolerista award.
    When I joined the discussion at Vision 2020 we began having delightful  discussions; I had rational and patient listening ears waiting for me, albeit  backed with passionate and argumentative fingertips. I was able to hash out my  defense of my own highly offensive view of things till the cows came home. But  unfortunately, the typical North Idaho community member does not take much  stock in passionate religious and political debate; Wilson  will no doubt play up on this, as will less daring local journalists and politicians.  One of the problems many folks will have with Vision 2020, whether they are in  or outside the Kirk, is the passionate and argumentative persistence they will  find there. Don’t let the newspapers fool you; some journalists just pee  in their pants when argumentatively challenged about their daddy’s  religion. For some, politics and religion are as hush hush as their adultery  with the woman next door. Who is it that despised Socrates? Who killed
 both him  and Jesus? It was both the politician and the local priest, and may we never  forget it.
    When ever Dale is finished hiding behind his own Ultra-conserv blog,  perhaps he can join us on Vision 2020 again — it was after all his own  moral weakness that forced him to leave in the first place.

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