Re: VMs: Fwd: Re: Offlist, was OT: Ptolemy and stuff

[Elmar Vogt <elvogt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you don't mind, I'll just skip the whole longitude-spherical problem; it 
has been discussed ad nauseam.

jean-yves artero wrote:

> ...
> You are in your logic, but this only yours, not the logic of everybody, ...

Would you please explain what you mean by "logic" and "logical"? I fail to 
grasp your concept.

> ...
> Finally, people don t need to be told to read Wikipedia, this was and is unpolite.

What am I supposed to do if I perceive a relevant lack of factual knowledge 
in posters on a certain thread? Let them go? Explain it myself? Why not 
point them to a source of information, more competently and elegantly 
compiled than I could provide? I feel this is more polite than letting them 
go ahead and make fools of themselves.

And you commented on my signature line:

"You have no right to an uninformed opinion." (Steve Dutch)

as follows:

> This IMO leads to Inquisition and dictatorshp. And not to the solution of VMS riddle. Jean 
>
> > PS I have the right to an other opinion that yours. I am a free man.Don t try to intimidate me. No use. Try to speak about VMS. My point is that VMS is Ptoleamaic and Copernical. What is yours?

Perhaps it is necessary to quote Steve Dutch's source in length (from 
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/dutchrules.htm):

> You have no right to an uninformed opinion
>
> Patriotism is not the last refuge of the scoundrel. "I have a right to my opinion" is. It's amazing how often people, backed into a corner by logic or evidence, will resort to "I have a right to my opinion," asserting their right to cling to their opinion despite the evidence.
>
> You have no right to an uninformed opinion. If you are going to hold an opinion on an issue, you have a moral obligation to make it an informed opinion. You have no right to go into a voting booth armed with half-baked, unsupported opinions. ...
>
> Think about it. ... Money isn't the problem; superficial, uninformed, lazy people are.

So, the thrust of the quotation is not to legally forbid any manner of 
speech, but to point out the "moral obligation" of the speaker to first 
inform himself before he participates. You are being asked to check 
yourself, if you dutifully pondered your statements, before speaking. 
Uninformed statements are a waste of breath on the speaker's part, and a 
waste of time for the audience. You have to take into account that people 
might actually listen to what you're saying.

To construct this to mean intimidation, "inquisition and dictatorship" is... 
a matter of debate, IMHO.

Cheers,

	Elmar

--
Elmar Vogt / Königswarterstr. 18 / 90762 Fürth / GERMANY
elvogt@xxxxxxxxxxx / www.beamends.de / Tel.: (++49/0)911 - 31 52 58

"You have no right to an uninformed opinion." (Steve Dutch)

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