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Unknowability about end-product can be an important principle
John EWBANK
Thursday, November 14, 2002 5:49 AM
Copyright November 9, 2002 by John R. Ewbank, 18966-4545, johnewb@comcast.com
"The ends justifies the means" is generally implied in the ethics of
evangelists for fundamentalists, who may apply different ethics outside the
goal of increasing the number of believers in such fundamentalism. Seeking to
be disentangled from the conversion efforts of cults, Muslims, Catholics,
Marxists and Jerry Falwells requires both a sense of humor and
awareness of the varieties of subtle techniques.
Sincere faith in "spontaneous order" and "order out of chaos" can be helpful
when functioning in small groups, whether in a circle of live conversation or
in an e-mail group involved in a forum. If those managing a forum are
committed to ending up with an increased number of converts to some doctrine,
they can subtly control what is published and what is not published to advance
their hidden agenda. Without firm management, a small clique or even a single
talented scoundrel can dominate a forum. As long as both the managers and
participants are sufficiently open-minded about what might be the end-product
of the forum, there can be wonderful democratic communication. Eternal
vigilance about the hazards, while having basic trust that the managers and
all participants have the capacity for and are initially presumed to be
sincerely searching and not primarily evangelizing for fundamentalism, are a
part of walking the razors edge through a cyber-forum.
219 words
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