"Hey, Paul! I see you finally decided to get a site of your own and stop leaching off of your friends", said somebody today. Don't get your hopes up. It's really not much of a site. While the articles on this site were all posted with the permission of the authors, all of whom participated in some effort or another I had an interest in, almost none of this material was written by anybody named "Lewis". I guess that makes me the editor.

Mainly just Burning Man-related material, so far, which is a tribute to just how far this page has slipped already, as I won't be going back there. Too much BMORG-related unpleasantness. (Best advice to be found in Black Rock - avoid ePlaya and other BMORG related forums). But, for those who didn't trip across trouble like me and a few of my friends did, Burning Man can be a very good time, and this is good material to carry.

A few items here : one of the pages for the what used to be the Unofficial Global Burning Man Freelist, which was run by "benign neglect" as my fellow co-owner would put it. (The Freelist concept has since been abandoned, as we soon found out that all that most wanted to have the freedom to do was troll or lurk; it has been replaced with a Burning Man Republican list). This is also home to one copy of the homepage of Nonfluffy Pagans on the Playa, a proposed event for Pagans who believe in the value of critical thinking and real scholarship. Already, the organization list seems to be doing better than our Uncensored Hellenic and Roman Reconstructionist list, but we still do have some hopes for the latter.

This page, much to my pleasant surprise, is now the one of the homes for the Delphic Oracle, a well-established and fairly well known Hellenic ring, established by Kyrene Ariadne of Hellenion. I am quite excited by this development, and will enjoy the opportunity to take that ring in a new, less fluffy direction. Some on that ring may have a few questions, especially when they see onew of the pages from this site which is on that ring : the homepage for the New Hellenic Pagan Chicago, in which quite a cynical view of discussion lists is advanced. Yet, here we are pitching one to the ring members, seemingly urging them to participate. Are we being hypocritical?

No, for several reasons. First, because regardless of what we say or what we do, the fact is that a great many of our members will participate in online Pagan discussion forums, so even if we were to be in favor of getting rid of all such places today, that would be an academic point. Since many of our people will partake, and we wish them the best, they might as well do so in the least toxic environment possible. The Graeco-Roman Soapbox is a list run by benign neglect : as moderators, we don't take action unless we clearly must. This means that all go in knowing that online politics as usual, in which one seeks to 'win' in an argument by pressuring the moderators into silencing the opposition, is not going to be an issue. That fact eliminates one of the nastier and more embittering aspects of the online experience, and as the Soapbox is, technically, an adult forum with warnings posted going in, we're inclined to doubt that ISPs will take the whining of would-be plug pullers very seriously, when those complaints are made regarding events on our list.

Free speech, without quasi-official harassment : that's a big step forward, and it's about time. Not that we have any illusions as to what to expect. We know that in the long run, the trolls, flamers and other worst elements to be found on the list, will end up dominating it. Such has been the life cycle of every open forum we've ever seen, both online and off, and we're not about to fool ourselves into thinking that ours will be the exception. But, until that inevitable end comes, the Soapbox will be there for those who would use it to make connections, and those conections can endure and carry over to other places, even when the time finally comes to close the list down. We don't ask that it be permanent, because it can do a lot of good without being so.

It gives people a chance to break the proverbial ice in a place where the local Cabal isn't in control, and people are free to be themselves. Once those social networks begin to form in a healthier way, each being driven by something other than the need to backstab and silence others, lest he be backstabbed and silenced himself, simpler places like Hellenic Pagan Chicago, with their more sustainable objectives, will finally find that they have a social base to build on. Thus, the answer to the question is no, we're not being hypocritical, merely pragmatic, as one must be if one's philosophy is ever to be anything more than the sterile class exercise of those who have forgotten that principles arise for a purpose.



(Note : to answer a question that's been passed around, yes, I do have a webring on which Hellenic and Roman Wiccan applicants would be welcome : the Pagan Unity Webring. At least, I have it tentatively, until I get into contact with the previous owner and make sure that turning the ring over to me was his/her intention).