[Coral-List] Coral Reef Curmudgeons Unite!
Jim Hendee
jim.hendee at noaa.gov
Sun Feb 21 10:54:23 EST 2010
Aloha, Coral-Listers!
You may have wondered sometimes at the decision-making process on
how one post gets through, while another gets quashed. In this corner,
there are no hard-and-fast rules, just general guidelines, which are
stated on the Coral-List info page
<http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list>. Sometimes
repeat transgressions, shall we say, are what may stop a post.
Sometimes a post goes through even though it may seem inflammatory,
while another view may show it to be a refreshing new perspective. I
sometimes goof big time.
It's hard not to let personalities and our personal passions become
part of what we do professionally--for most of us, that's why we do it.
I reckon pure science should be utterly passionless, but implementing
science via funding agencies means we are ruled by politics, which
obviously are not passionless--quite the opposite; and we all have to
deal with each other. Throw into the mix the obvious nature of some big
egos and it can really foul things up. So we have this continual train
wreck of the scientists and conservationists, the glory-hoggers, and the
politicians, and everybody trying to get their own way.
Now, some of the shortcomings of this particular U.S. Government
run Coral-List are that you can't lobby Congress, you can't call each
other nasty names, you can't send pictures and attachments, and
generally everybody has to be nice. However, I have recently been
reminded of the Patrick Swayze quote in the movie /Road House/: "I want
you to be nice...until it's time to /not/ be nice." And so I am most
seriously suggesting that "somebody" (not me!) consider starting a Coral
Reef Curmudgeons (or Coral Reef Politics, or whatever) list using, say
Yahoo Groups. There you can call each other dirty rotten scoundrels,
you can post all kids of illustrative or condemning pictures, you can
say whichever U.S. or state government agency is doing a rotten job
because so-and-so let his ego get in the way (or whatever), you can say
Dr. Blackshark falsified his results, you can say global warming is a
big liberal tree-hugging hoax manufactured to keep scientists employed,
you can post sarcasm intended to embarrass or provoke, or that all Dr.
Blackshark's research money is going to buy junkets to Bali in the name
of some dubious research pretext. Such a list might be refreshing,
humorous, illuminating and actually useful in letting off steam. New
friendships and enemies will be made, people may get embarrassed or feel
vindicated, and havoc may result, but some of the truths may enlighten
us all. It would be a true, free-wheelin' list to say what you think
without government censorship. It's just an idea to consider.
Cheers,
Jim
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