Why pay so much for super high end?

maple grove don't be a sexist. " interesting audiophile ( person )

To Douglas Schroeder, Thank you for speaking both your mind / heart and addressing a heretofore seldom (if ever) challenged issue of dismissive language and thought. 

In my experience it is not reserved for matters religious or devotional. And I have no interest in condemning those who must [attempt to] make others feel less than, specifically because when a person speaks this way, they are --almost always unconsciously-- speaking to their own inadequacy.

I want to address another facet of this, too, namely that we each could enlist sufficient self-discipline to acknowledge that another person's point of view, however different from our own, is Nonetheless their intellectual property and, as such, an extension of their person, of their self. The thought that being 'rude', condescending or otherwise diminishing of another's viewpoint is acceptable is, flatly, unacceptable (to me).

The anonymity offered by the internet is quite like the cocoon of emotional dissociation that many people trade upon the moment they close the door of their automobiles. Vilifying others because the ego experiences a new 'container' --an internet forum, the automobile, [the voting booth]-- may be human nature at its oozing worst, but certainly the behavior is common.

What I'm exhorting people to do is reach beyond the common into the exceptional within themselves. Consider, please, that it is not necessary to have traumatic or dangerous circumstances to summon one's best in interactions with others.

What drives any forum like Audiogon, for which I feel grateful (having learned a great deal here, and having found some new and valued friends), is shared interest. That is what I would love to support and spread. As so many have said here, this should be fun. I wholeheartedly agree. If you feel someone is trolling, sobeit. Do you have to confront that person to feel better about yourself? to preserve the purity of the forum? or might you simply think to yourself: what positive could come from responding to that person's post?

I'll lend my opinion here --not that you asked: whatever you say, that person is already formed. They are who they are and your comment will not change them, enlighten them or make any other positive difference. Please correct me if your experience says otherwise.

I believe, if you search honestly in your pool of experience, that you will find you, too, enjoy scrapping by 'making someone else wrong'. So the question becomes: 'what's in that behavior that benefits you'? Again, if you were to search yourself deeply and honestly, I suspect you would find that you don't like feeling the experience of implicit judgment against you.

We have the tools, fortunately, to transcend the normal black-and-white / fight or flight Reactions. We can choose to accept first our own human-ness and at then others' right to an opinion that differs from our own. Neither has the power to make us 'less than', unless, of course, we choose to think that of ourselves. And then, who is responsible?

Very Best of All the Holidays to you all. May each of us offer others in our daily orbit the benefit of our own doubt: after all, forgiveness begins at home. 

PS to Douglas Schroeder,

Please contact me off thread. I would love to learn your perspective on the shortcomings of Darwin's scientific method.

Cheers

Wow. I wonder if they are talking about hi-end audio over on the Existentialism Forum?

I believe it is human nature to show ones intellectual prowess.....LMHO