I have never met Keith, hence I cannot tell you anything about him other than what I read in his posts. Sometimes I think folks miss an important distinction. I am responding to words without the benefit of knowing the person, other than through the opinions they express. When you post an opinion online, in a discussion forum, you are inviting a response.

Because I have never met Keith in person, I think it appropriate to apologize publicly for calling him a bigot. I do so unreservedly.

Opinions are another matter. I find many of Keith's opinions to reflect a viewpoint I find objectionable. He is far from the only one I would say this about. But the debate should focus on attacking ideas, not people.

One last thing. If I use myself as an example, I have been posting on this forum almost since the beginning. I can remember when most of you came here. I have been through many "ups" and many "downs" in that time. My posts are often a reflection of that. Just as in 3D life, things are often said that we wish we hadn't said. For the most part I have let those remarks stand and took the heat for them (even though I have the ability to delete them) because I think it important to do so. The point is, it isn't hard to find examples like this, we are all human, after all. There are any number of things here I regret posting. But I generally have tried to act with integrity. Personally, despite occasional lapses in the heat of the argument, I feel it is important to stick with debating, attacking, ferociously defending, our opinions, but not attack the people. Using BNP as an example, it is perfectly legitimate to attack the ideas as xenophobic if that is your view. If MBS George wants to place her name on those ideas then she must stand the heat. If I want to post my views on ownership of weapons, I must be able to stand the scrutiny that that entails. But we need not adopt the tactics of those we detest. To do so will doom this place as it becomes increasingly more strident and less relevant. I don't want that.

All the best,

Mick