[Magdalen] Right now: Paris.

[Roger Stokes]

On 16/11/2015 22:58, Jim Guthrie wrote:
> Why would you think that I'm appalled by Paris means I think everyone 
> else are moral idiots?
>
> Cheers,
> Jim
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Molly Wolf
> Sent: Monday, November 16, 2015 12:07 PM
> To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Right now: Paris.
>
> So your audience -- that is, the Magdalen pub -- contains moral idiots 
> inferior to you?  How flattering.
>
> A good homiletic rule is "preach to the people in the pew, not out the 
> back door."
>
> Gnarliness does not equal superior wisdom.

I think what we may have here is a misunderstanding that can occur in a 
medium such as this.  There has been some interchange between James O-C 
and Jim G about how to respond to the events in Paris a few days ago.  I 
believe both gentlemen have been deeply shocked by what happened that 
night.  Where they appear to differ is in how general they feel this 
revulsion to be, and what one should assume in that regard.  
Unfortunately this difference of opinion and consequent misunderstanding 
has not always been expressed in the most charitable terms.

On a slightly different tack those events came a little closer to home 
today.  I was in a local school where I chair the Governing Body for a 
meeting this morning.  While there I heard that a member of staff had 
been in Paris with his family to celebrate his mother's 50th birthday.  
While the hotel they were in was not attacked there was an alarm and 
lock-down so they had to stay in their room for several hours.

During this time they heard various bangs which they assumed to be shots 
until eventually the police, bearing machine-guns, entered the room 
where they were.  I am not sure of the family's ethnicity but I believe 
the skin hue could be seen as Asian or Middle Eastern.  That was not a 
good position for them to have been in on what was meant to be a 
celebratory weekend.;

Roger