Philip Welch wrote:
On May 20, 2006, at 8:37 PM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
I just look through [[Abu Hamza al-Masri]] and find no mention of a connection with the 9/11 incident.
"Hamza has publicly expressed support for al-Qaeda [and] Osama bin Laden."
Again, I'm not claiming he was connected to 9/11, only that he supports that kind of violence. Consider:
"John Doe has publicly expressed support for the Khmer Rouge [and] Pol Pot."
If anyone came on this listserv publicly identifying with such a John Doe, I'd want to run him out for the same reason.
To me the issue is not whether he supports these causes, but how he does so. NPOV allows a place for supporters of al-Qaeda to make their pitch about whatever may be good about it. Rather than run them out it would be to our broad advantage if these individuals learned to express these views in a more constructive manner.
For someone like our Abu Hamza (who at first appearance seems to have indeed engaged in unacceptable editing) it would help if we had mentors available who are sympathetic but rationale in dealing with such points of view. Perhaps they could pull aside and counsel these wilder newbies in techniques for constructively presenting their opinions.
Ec