[H-GEN] politics at Humbug

[Benjamin Fowler]

Hi Rudolf,

On 6 September 2013 02:51, Rudolf Vyborny <rvyborny at iinet.net.au> wrote:

>
> **
> I am of the strong view that professional societies should not become
> political forums and as societies should refrain from taking stands on
> political issues. There are long standing tradition in this regard for *
> all** *professional societies I know of. I would regard  Humbug as a
> professional society although not all members belong to the same
> profession.  There are also good reasons for my position, membership of
> professional societies is varied and therefore any professional society has
> no rights to express a political opinion in the name of all its members.
> (Or give an impression that  an overwhelming majority takes a particular
> political view.) Regrettably, some of the most respected societies (e.g.
> British Royal Society) recently violated this tradition but all of it
> achieved was eroding  its own prestige. I could go on and on on this topic
> but let me give only one more reason, politics at  a professional society
> and in Humbug particularly  spoils the congenial atmosphere.
>

Quite right.

Again, apologies for my lapse.

I had not considered that mailing list banter could be construed as a
political position for the club as a whole, but if that suggestion's even
there, then that's good enough to refrain from discussing politics, at
least in written form.

Cheers, Ben.
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