recent colourful mapology, of which the Poetics list is certainly full, seems to avoid the sense of class struggle obtaining in the discussion of recent events. I've looked at the Poetics list as the 1st place where class discussions can go on between consenting intellectuals. yet here we have a class issue roaring, and people are a avoiding the implications. gosh darn! I think an awful lot of emotion is replacing intellect right now. I've seen this site linked to several times (thus it is my turn to do so). I almost like it for its expletives, but the rant is too much like the real thing, or maybe it really is the real thing. I'm suspicious of sure people. taking each other's moral pulse is a way to shit up the discussion. I believe it is true, as buddhists have it, that everyone wants to be happy, doesn't want to feel pain. often, the differences we notice are not moral ones, but practical ones: how to deal with the problems. I mean, personally, I don't know how to win a war, don't know how to avoid one, don't know how to run a government. I've got theories, I suppsoe, but no surety. maintaining my integrity in my own little life is hard enough. that integrity has little to do with the map or the colours on it. I believe in compassion. I believe in understanding. I don't believe that tolerance is something one can expect without offering it as well. Fuck the North too, let's look at the ball as a whole.