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Re: de-demonizing Monsanto



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



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