How could you ignore the magnificent Lester Ballard surfacing from his cave to rip the cretins a new one ?
LRC's very own conscience........
Seriously, interesting thread - I'm the hobbiest of hobby joggers (pb's too embarrassing to post, but of course, I'm sub 14.30 in the 5k).
I got lost in your paper a little bit if I'm honest. Yes, the Duke sexism case is a good example of a controversial (non-running) topic that pulled in extremes of views, but I think the misogynistic simpletons were eventually given somewhat of a verbal thrashing. So, is that proof that LRC is generally a pretty benign place or a place that gives a platform to bigots ?
There is an unbelievable amount (to a Europeans eyes anyway) of casual misogyny in here. A lot of it can be found in the dating advice threads for example. What LRC does through it's anonymity is to allow these voices to be heard, when in polite society, the "social contract" doesn't allow it.
I'd have loved you to be able to reference the Will Steele thread, the outpouring of support for Eddy Lee, the sheer wisdom of the old timers (the Remembrance Sunday thread this year was a complete surprise to find on here, and incredibly moving), the erudition of the many book suggestion threads, the chess commentary by seriously good ex-players like Avocado's Number. There is just so much wonderful stuff here, and if I was writing such a paper, I'd have tried to explore the stark contrast between the witless bigotry of some and the humour, wisdom and knowledge of many others. How it coexists with running as the only real link is probably a fascinating essay in it's own right.