Must agree to disagree with you, Donuel, about
Iain's philosophy. You won't see this my way, which is all right.

The philosophy of the hardened cynic
tends toward negation, so of course it is polarized and polarizing.
The informed mistrust of cynicism can be off-putting emotionally.
Now I don't read every post by Iains,
because there are entire BS threads which I avoid, for my health.

But just because Iains posts opinions with the rough-coated detachment of the hardened veteran,
does that make the author of the posts
hard to the core? I sincerely doubt that.

And I don't think Iains comes off as anti-umbuntu
just because he doesn't show us any warm squishy emotion.

I will concede, however,
that it is easy for the cynicism ingrained into Iain's dispatches
to stir up defensiveness, especially in emotions.
It has not been easy for me to keep my own feelings in check
when I read a post from you, Iains,
but the exercise is good for me mentally;
and I am aware of someone beneath the surface of your dispatches
who is capable of humanity.

I will go on reading Iains' posts carefully and with interest.