From: Antistoicus
To: Ellen
Subject: Re: Meetings, bashings, and a crate of antacid
Ellen,
Here is an undebatable historical fact. I have looked over the lists on which Mike posted. At the time Sally made her remarks about the newsletter and started bashing the Council, Mike had never mentioned her directly or indirectly in any of the mailing lists on which she posted. (It took a little while to check, but as the lists only go back to 1998 at the earliest, it was not an impossible task). Sally made her initial remarks in a followup to a letter/article Mike did entitled "Oh, no ! We're going to get sued !
". (Mike, I think, was the only one smiling).
I, myself, have never posted on WebForum (and never will). Nor has any member of the Online Council, past or present, aside from Mike.
Sally had no provocation over at WebForum to respond to. By your own acknowledgement, in an earlier letter, she and Eric Cunningham (the owner of the Towner Shoppe) were hardly friends. Hence, Mr. Daley's commentary about Mr. Cunningham could not rationally have been argued to have provoked Sally in any way. Let us note that aside from announcing to the world that the Council, as a collective body, was thumbing its nose at Cunningham, Mike discussed nobody in that post other than Mr. Cunningham. Sally was not even alluded to. So, forgive me, but this defense does not, as some would say, pass the "straight face test".
With all due respect, the rest of your defense merits very little comment. If a person stares at a clear noon-time sky and denies that it is blue, there is little point to debating Rayleigh scattering with him. You said it yourself. As a friend to Sally, you are perhaps not the most unbiased person to talk to on this subject.
Immaterial, perhaps, as my best advice to you at this point would be to not come. The issue here is not your support for Sally. The issue is the difficulty in having a straight conversation with you, and a willingness on your part to redefine the concept of "free and open discussion" right into meaninglessness. I think that we both know that this would be an unproductive working relationship.
As for the cults listing on the Agora, I know that you were probably joking, but it is highly unlikely at this point that said site will be updated, or even kept online. Right now, I'm eyeing its disk allotment as potential expansion space for the Almond Jar. The rest of the Online Council has decided to abandon the site and retire from association with the "Pagan Community". As this was never anything other than a community service project, if the community wishes to throw obstacles in my path, I will be all too glad to bow to its wishes and not serve it at all. I am not inclined to pick up where the others have left off.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Study weeks in grad school rarely come in at less than 40 hours, and 60 is usually more like it.
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