Parable a la Piaget

A school boy gets on the wrong side of his peers and they start to taunt him. If he shrugs, or laughs off their taunts, the incident is soon closed. But generally the boy will throw insults at his tormentors, who begin to enjoy the discomfort they are causing and egg him on. Soon others come running up to join the fray.

The perpetrator could call it a day but usually he doesn't. He insists that he is in the right, they are all wrong, he will sort them out; he is a fighter. Much laughter. By now no one cares who is right and who is wrong -- it's generally over something very silly in the first place. Fair is unfair. Loony limericks, and jolly jingles add to the fun: rude versions of Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater and such puerile patter.

This behavior is true of school boys of all ages. Unless teachers (letters editors) step in, things can get out of hand and the Principal (editor) will have to take firm action. How nice it is to see a senior prefect stepping in and admonishing not only the erring school boys but the school staff as well.

Perhaps The Jakarta Post can take a tip from Cyberspace. The internet is a free range, there are no editors or publishers. Anyone, or everyone can publish and be damned. For this reason user groups are drawing up their own rules of "netiquette".

The three "Bs" to banishment are: Boorish behavior, Boring one's peers and Bankruptcy of ideas. Perhaps The Jakarta Post can impose a limit on the number of letters a person can write on a subject, or maybe a person should be limited to a couple of letters a month.

PETER E. R. CROSS

Jakarta