Written to prompt discussion.
It has been posted:
if you don't enjoy a thread, just choose a different one. ... If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
if the direction of a thread bothers me or you, just click out of that thread.

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I would suggest that at times it is vitally important not to turn the other cheek, but rather to pro-actively assert appropriate standards. To assert them kindly, without ranting, but nonetheless to assert them firmly.

All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.– Edmund Burke
http://icij.org/about/1999winnerreport.html; cross reference to the Holocaust

We need a resurgence of higher standards and expectations all around, as in when the vast majority of society noticeably frowns on and does something about out-of-line behavior. Even something as simple as most patrons in a restaurant glowering at the one unruly table would help. (second post at:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=education&Number=2013&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5)

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Your comments and discussion are solicited.