Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 17:11:23 EDT
Reply-To: FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject: Deeply Saddened and Troubled
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I am deeply saddened and troubled by the recent turn of events as regards
various posts to the Vanagon list. This comment is triggered by the flurry of
posts triggered by the VW porn label and the vitriolic exchanges triggered by
the vendor bashing outbursts.
The outrage engendered by the opening of the post headlined by VW Porn leaves
me confused and fills me with a sense of uneasiness and dread. What forces
the nanometer skinned to open the post? Deletion of the scurrilous post or
group of posts is a pleasure on my Mac. Over the years since I first joined
this list (I think I found it a year after the fledgling beginning), I have
yet to open a frivolous Friday post. I routinely scan through each days
postings and open the increasingly limited number of technical posts and trip
reports. The remainder go quickly and quietly to the virtual round file on
the base of my screen. Perhaps this clamor is generated by IBM users
manipulated by the evil Microsoft takeoff of the Mac operating system!
But back to the point. Now our list administrator has taken a position on
this material and will use his limited time and resources to excise such
material. Of course, I support any decision he makes regarding the list. My
sense of sadness derives from the way I see the porn response issue. This
smacks of rank political correctness and I'm depressed to see that we
(collective) must be protected from the outrageous things our species
delights in. The quick polarization of the discussion whether on the VW porn
issue or vendor bashing shows a meanness, a sense of outrage together with
self-righteous indignation and a lack of tolerance that is truly depressing
to me. With my advancing years I see our infatuation with political
correctness, and the abysmal lack of education of our youth as two of the
most corrosive dynamics in the decline of our society.
I joined this list with the gleeful eye to indulging in a number of fruitful
(technical) discussions with a number of fiscal masochists operating a
notoriously unreliable vehicle, serviced by simians, but always a pleasant
adventure to drive. Recently (past several years) I have watched technical
discussions of problems and their solutions and of modifications and their
pitfalls give way vendor bashing, list closure issues and the defense of
adult-like individuals from prurient material.
A few weeks ago, I posted a response in perhaps excessive detail challenging
the list wisdom that the gearing of the diesel manual transmission was such
that that gasoline engine conversions would be spinning their pistons off and
consuming huge volumes of fuel. The list wisdom has counseled that the only
reasonable approach was to go to a trans from a Waterboxer or air-cooled
predecessor. I squirmed at the thought of trying to lug a 1.8L engine while
pushing a 5300 pound vehicle with 90 to 115 hp (SAE for 1.8L inline 4). The
level of torque available (generally less than 125 pound foot) simply demands
torque multiplication for forward motion! I tried to explain that the I-4
engine was designed to spin at rates from 4500 rpm to 5500 rpm for 100s of
hours continuously without lifetime degradation. I also tried to trigger a
discussion of the fuel efficiency of a small motor operating at elevated
piston velocities but at minimal load. I got 4 responses to this admittedly
technical post (and heard nothing from the list member who's survey prompted
the discussion. Contrast this with the hundreds of posts on the porn topic,
vendor mistreatment, or list closure.
There is so much to constructive to discuss, can't we let the issues of
offending the picayune sensibilities of the readily outraged to our news
media and the professionally disingenuous classes (lawyers, politicians and
infomercial producers)?
Getting too old to be tactful,
Frank Grunthaner
