@MSGID: 1:3670/3 307E2973 Someone needs to tell me, am I just wasting my time by attempting to develop an attitude of understanding among all the posters in this echo? I spent a few hours that I really didn't have to spare in rewriting the rules of the Chipsmag Echo. One of the more important points I attempted to get across was that we all need to make a MAJOR effort to insure that we didn't allow bias of any type into the echo. Be it racial or continental, prejudice is prejudice pure and simple. The United States of America and the surrounding nations were founded on a land mass that was populated by a native group. In the name of progress and growth the true Native Americans (the American Indian) were driven to the point of extinction. Whole tribes were destroyed in the name of progress and change. It's an undeniable fact that this occured. There were slaves purchased from in many cases their own black brothers from Africa to serve and work the land. We created and then used the first atomic devices used on the battlefield against Japan. We also presently hold the largest "controlled" nuclear arsenal on the planet. Our finger is on the proverbial button and our leaders control enough firepower to crack the very mantle of the earth and end life as we know it. South America is a haven for the wealthy and corrupt. Money will buy even the most corrupt person a lifetime of safety and luxery. Europe is the hotbed from which most of the expansion lept forth. It's greatest claim to history was a maniacal tyrant that attempted to destroy an entire race and purge their kind from the planet, it has done many great things to promote the growth of civilization, but will always be shadowed in the memory of Hitler. Asia has been a source of repression for years. Only now the victims of the dark mask of Socialism have started to grow and florish. China remains the last bastion of demanding control and forced structure on the world's largest body of people. Africans chose to sell their brothers into salvery for a few trinkets. The great faith of Islam feeds the violence that consumes that land. They stoop to issuing "murder contracts" on the unfaithful that cannot follow their "one true vision" of their religion. Australia was founded as a penal colony by the British Empire as a place to tuck away the criminal element of their empire to die a horrible death on what they thought was a barren rock that could not support life for any great period of time. It would appear that I've managed to slam EVERY great race on each and every mass of land that exists on this rock we call Earth. What I have actually attempted to do is show that none of us is any less a person than any of the others. As people and as a country we all must suffer through the shameful pasts and present of the portion of the rock we choose to call home. We all choose to meet here in this echo based on a common desire to learn and grow. To share knowledge, experience and meet on a common ground in the hope that we all grow, learn and gain a deeper insight into the very things which we think make use different. These differences should serve only to make us stronger and to drive us to a greater understanding of each other as we learn to become one with each other in relationships we hope will last a lifetime as we all grow and develop in Cyberspace. In a single message I saw the ugly beast of separatism raise it's head again. As the CoModerator of this echo I refuse to allow this to happen. We all have a choice. Either limit yourself to destructive attitudes or grow beyond them. It is a choice each and everyone of us must make. Best Wishes.... Mike Dust in the wind. Everything is dust in the wind................... -!- Alexi/Mail 2.02b (#13) ! Origin: Sleepless Knights BBS Athens, AL USA (1:3670/3)