historycircus

Like Gregor above, I feel I must reply to some of the insinuations that have been put forth on this thread. I don't take accusations of being "dramatic," "childish," "a whiner," or a selfish "American" too lightly, so for the judgementally challenged, let me make a few clarifications:

I sarted this thread with the title "The Goodbye Thread" because I didn't want to suddenly be unable to say goodbye to some of the fantastic creatures who call Avalon home. There are good people here who have either seen my points of view and offered their own support, but more often, there are the folks who understand my point of view and have challenged me to move beyond my own mental box - some of the people who have called me out publicly and privately via my Avalon posts have helped me see the world a little bit differently. Is that not the point of the Hegelian dialectic? To reach synthesis? It is those folks who I am going to miss INTERACTING with here because of the subscriptions. My hope was that others who will be in the same boat could say a classy goodbye, and hopefully the thread would act as a way to get a little closure for a bad situation. That was my only intent. When subscriptions finally cut off communication, my plan was to copy and paste the text to a Word document, and keep it as a memento. I never threatened to "leave," I was just saying goodbye while I could. What was wrong with that?

Then my thread got merged with this "Options to Stay" business, and the thread became a debate/"love/hate your decision" conversation. My intent was not to discuss the merits of Bill and Kerry's decision - I don't know enough about maintaining computer forums and running a video production company to do so. But I do know a little something about conducting interviews, travelling a great deal to do so, and presenting research at conferences for the sharing of ideas. THAT costs a great deal of money, and since Bill and Kerry have been incredibly up front about the money they collect at PA going to support the work at PC, I totally understood the decision. That does not make it stink any less for those who won't be able to post anymore, but if the "big picture" demands it, so be it. I wasn't "whining" about subscriptions, or trying to preserve my existence here, I was just trying to say goodbye. Read my OP again, if in doubt.

And I must address the notion that I am a drama king because I am a citizen of the United States, and therefore must be greedy, selfish, and want everything for free - I invoke the Jerry Springer defense: "You don't know me." If you did, then you would know that if I'm still breathing, I'm fighting the dominant paridigms - with or without access to internet forums. I don't want to be seen as a blind American patriot here, but the "lazy, selfish American" stereotype is one that does not hold up to scrutiny. European nations are baffled by the fact that Americans work 5-7 days a week and only take an average of two weeks of vacation a year. Our teenagers might be killing each other in the secondary schools, but where do the worlds high school graduates come to get their college educations? What nation leads the world in humanitarian aid? I'm not saying the United States is perfect, it has many problems, but what nation doesn't? Shall I bandy about some tired stereotypes of the French, English, or Germans? No, because to do so is stupid, insensitive, and would betray a lack of understanding of said peoples and cultures. I think it is disgusting that those who mask themselves behind love and light and bemoan the lack of enlightenment in others could find themselves so reduced to throwing out tired, inaccurate, blanket assertions about such a diverse society as the United States.