It's not just here in this cyber-community, unfortunately. I recently became embroiled in a terrible firestorm which I thought was about folk music but which others thought was about religion. My instinct is to stay and attempt to build some understanding, but I have to confess it's wearing me down, and I'm greatly troubled by the name-calling and the attitudes that have been exposed.

Having lived through the 60's when we thought (perhaps erroneously) that the world was slowly becoming a better place, I'm now feeling that the world is getting a little less tolerant and less open-minded and more flammable every day. Communication, real communication with an open mind, is growing less commonplace as we get more communication tools with which to work.

My personal folk community has certainly changed.