This thread reminded me of a blog post Christopher Locke wrote a few weeks ago: http://www.rageboy.com/2009/04/cluetrainplus10-did-i-fall-asleep-this.html His point is that honest speech is more important than civility. Ideally you'd have both, but if one has to go, I would ditch civility in favor of honesty. I say this as someone who always has had trouble divining the real meaning behind things like the "GAC Communiques," which bury their points under so many layers of politeness that they are indiscernible to all but a handful of insiders trained in the Kabuki theater of international politics. I am not disagreeing with what Frank Fowlie wrote -- and would strongly agree that bullying and intentionally over-heated rhetoric should not be acceptable -- but honest speech is acceptable too, even if it is overly blunt or seemingly rude by some cultural definitions. Bret