[From Rick Marken (2001.10.11.1220)]
Bruce Gregory (2001.1011.1459)
Bravo, this is a nice example of "blaming the victim!" I love the way you
use Bill Powers' sound advice to make Bill Williams wrong. He is the one
who needs to change not you! You manage to quote Bill Powers and in the
process to show that you have no intention of taking his message to heart.
I never would have thought of this approach to self-justification. I'll
have to remember it.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I wasn't saying that Bill Williams
was wrong (or right). I was simply saying that if Bill didn't like the results
of what he said (in the form of what others said to him in reply) he might
consider either not saying it or, perhaps, saying it in another way.
Bill Powers' advice had nothing to do with whether what one was saying was right
or wrong. It had to do with avoiding conflict by taking responsibility for one's
own contribution to that conflict. Read Bill's suggestion again and see if you
don't agree:
When you sense resistance and opposition to your words or acts, back off
before
the resistance becomes serious, and consider whether you actually care about
the
opposition, or on the other hand about what it was you were trying to
accomplish,
before deciding whether to go on. Don't just automatically defend, or
automatically
attack. At least reflect a moment first.
Best regards
Rick
ยทยทยท
--
Richard S. Marken, Ph.D.
The RAND Corporation
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E-mail: rmarken@rand.org