Jon Reed, a consultant in the SAP world, recently posted a blog entry about some lessons he learned years ago from Hampshire College President Gregory Price. John feels, and I agree, that these principles of discourse are a model of behavior and belief that we bloggers would do well to emulate. I rarely post about “stuff I saw somewhere else” but I couldn’t resist this one, and I offer it without further commentary. You can read Jon’s original post here. I believe these are words bloggers can live by:
- That we value truth and the process of seeking truth as ends in themselves
- That we accept responsibility to articulate a position as close to the truth as one can make it, using to the best of one’s ability, available evidence, and the rules of reason, logic and relevance
- That we listen openly, recognizing always that new information may alter one’s position;
- That we welcome evaluation and accept and even encourage disagreement and criticism even to the point of seeking out for ourselves that which will disprove our position;
- That we refuse to reduce disagreement to personal attacks or attacks on groups or classes of individuals
- That we value civility, even in disagreement
- That we reject the premise that ends, no matter how worthy, can justify means which violate these principles.
Excellent!
I don’t think it’s been much of an issue in technology analysis until the blog era. People commented on the subject matter, without a lot of back-and-forth dialogue. Until the past few years, almost all the nasty shots I took were straight from companies rather than from other observers. Those included attempts at both legal and physical intimidation — but nothing to be scared of if one knew ones rights and options.
But wow. Things have sure gotten personal now. I’m still reeling from the last go-round, not least because the shots keep coming in. Obviously, there’s even less to be afraid of … but they’re just so STUPID, which in some cases is very disappointing considering the source.