As a practical matter, I think Koala has suggested the first sensible and coolheaded idea I have read here in a very long time: Doug launches a forum. The software is boilerplate, he already has a web site ? and it would give the rest of us – the silent majority I suspect ? an option to vote with our feet.
What happened here is over. It has happened many times before. Psychologists call it ?Scapegoating? or demonization. Chicken farmers call it a pecking party. Most people would call it a lynch mob.
Scapegoating is a recurring theme in human history. Obvious examples include the Clinton impeachment, the crucifixion of Christ, the Salem Witch-hunts, the House Committee on un-American Activities, the Holocaust, the Spanish Inquisition, and l?Affaire Dreyfus. I could go on.
Scapegoating has been studied by the Stanford philosopher Rene Girard, and he has written a number of fascinating books about it.
But Scapegoating is not just a psychological theory. It is a calculated, deliberate everyday working tactic in corporate, political, and institutional life. Flip on talk radio for 30 seconds or so – you?ll hear Scapegoating as practiced by the masters. Or watch what happens in a corporate boardroom 5 minutes after a dismal quarterly earnings report.
In any event, here we are. We have long since lost interest in the Who-Said-What-When-And-How-Dare-He aspect of this endlessly thrashing, profoundly stupid controversy.
There is nothing left to be said, really, and the damage cannot be undone. I support Koala?s suggestion that Doug set up an alternative r/c sailing forum. Start fresh.
Best, Michael