Re: de-demonizing Monsanto

E. Ann Clark (ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca)
Mon, 25 Nov 1996 00:53:30 EDT

Tom Allen: well put; insightful, cogent, and true. I will only add
one small reinforcement to your discomfort at the jargon on
"poisoners" etc. A lot of the value-laden language that is employed
by some groups does a great disservice to the movement as a whole.
Some of the biggest names in the movement in Canada have adopted
positions and language that are so extreme as to be readily
ridiculed, effectively side-tracking and discounting their often
valid arguments. This is unfortunate in the extreme, because the
population of articulate, knowledgeable, and courageous proponents of
alternative agriculture - in any form - is so small that it grieves
me to see them painting themselves into a corner where they can be so
effectively hidden and dismissed.

May I encourage those genuinely interested in promoting agricultural
sustainability to consider carefully the words and tone they use to
craft their arguments. It doesn't matter how brilliant the argument
is if the wording switches off those who should be reading it.
Villification may bring a knowing smile and nod of agreement to the
faces of the converted, but this is not the audience that we should
be aiming at.

I might add, that when one consciously attempts to address an
"opponent" in a civil and polite tone, to make a reasonable - not
threatening - argument, one can sometimes begin to "see" better
where the other guy is coming from, and eventually s/he may begin to
accept at least some elements of your argument too.

My favorite quote is "A hard headed realist is someone with an
incomplete grasp of the facts." Nothing is black and white - all is
shades of gray. The sooner we figure that out, the better. Ann
ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933