I could’ve imagined the first one being your genuinely seeking clarification, but now it seems it’s just an irritating style of reply.

I know what I said, thanks. I don’t need you to put your spin on it and Chinese-whisper it back as if they were my own words. Besides, notwithstanding the occasional slip, I’d like to think I’m immune to such ugly grammar as “The mainstream power got it going so well…” ;)

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a witch-hunt. That isn’t (or at least shouldn’t be) in dispute. Historically, no witches have been able to convince the people who were hounding them to treat them as anything other than witches. If you can refute this, please do. Witches standing up for themselves tend to get knocked right back down and stomped far harder as a punishment for resisting. If it’s not too ‘hypothetical’, try the little thought experiment I alluded to earlier, and imagine the reaction to a group of Salem witches or McCarthy-era communists publicly admitting that while they are indeed witches and communists, they aren’t the bad sort and so don’t deserve to be persecuted. If you can’t see how those scenarios apply to the reality of our situation, then just study the reaction that NAMBLA generated when they stuck their heads above the parapet while neglecting to remove their black pointy hats.

I don’t know how many of the other posters involved in this discussion agree with your closing assessment. Though it’s reassuring that it’s not just my mouth you like to put your own words into. I wouldn’t like to think I was receiving special favours. You’ll know though if you’ve followed this thread that I predicted that I wouldn’t get a lot of agreement with my point of view. Your observations in that last post are hardly news. You’ll also know if you make any effort to find out what I actually believe beyond what you need to craft the caricature of it you keep blithely putting quotation marks around, then you’ll know that I don’t advocate a 'least resistance, absolutely nothing can be done' outlook. In the second half of this post I detail a few avenues I feel might be profitable to explore. I just don’t believe in running forward bravely but ultimately pointlessly when you should know full well that you’re standing in the middle of a minefield.