Checkerspots and Paul Cherubini

[Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer]

It is irrelevant if is a huge population of the checkerspot in Mexico.
Endangered species ranks are set at a national and state level in the USA. A
species/subspecies can easily be endangered IN THE USA (or Canada, where I
am from), and still be common elsewhere.

One can certainly argue whether the "political boundary" approach is the
correct one for assessing conservation status, but that is a separate issue.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Vaughn" <aa6g at aa6g.org>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: June 10, 2000 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: Checkerspots and Paul Cherubini


> anneevans wrote:
>
> >Paul Cherubini's bias is amazing. He never misses a chance to attack the
defense of the environment. The web site promotes the conservation of
animals and has chosen
> >several rare butterflies. He has conveniently forgotten that the Quino
Checkerspot is
> >listed under the US Endangered Species Act. He could have chosen to
advise the author
> >personally of any errors. Instead he made a public attack in order to try
to tell people not to listen
> >to this site's message on rare species.
> >
> >Paul Cherubini always attacks anyone or anything that suggests
environmental preservation.
> >If something *might* be environmentally damaging you can be sure to see
him support it.
> >He sure is a Nature Hater.
>
> I've been reading leps-l for going on 5 years and I think you grossly
> misunderstand Paul. This is going to be a bit off-topic but I think it's
> necessary for you to understand my statement.
>
> This is a bit speculative on my part but I suspect, that like myself, Paul
> is what Dr. David Keirsey calls a "Rational" personality type. Dr. Keirsey
> is a physcologist who has spent a good portion of his 40 some odd year
> career researching and refining the Meyers-Briggs personality types. I'd
> recommend that you and anyone interested take a few minutes and read about
> the Rational temperament on his web site:  http://www.keirsey.com  You
> might even find it interesting to find out what type you are.
>
> To summarize a few of the key Rational traits; we are skeptical...about
> almost everything and the source doesn't matter, rank and authority is
open
> to question just the same as a layman. We trust reason and logic, not
feelings.
> Things must make sense to us, if not, then the subject is open to
question.
> Because of our skeptical and logical approach to things we can seem aloof,
> arrogant and uncaring. I assure you that this is not the case. We have
great
> passion for the things that interest us.
>
> Dr. Keirsey estimates that Rationals make up only about 6% of the world
> population so in your everyday life you don't know many of us. Even on
> a scientific oriented list like leps-l where Rationals are probably
> found in disportionately large numbers, we're still the minority.
>
> If I may speculate even a bit further, I suspect those referred to as
> "Environmentalists" are what Dr. Keirsey calls the "Guardian" temperament.
> Guardians trust authority...frequently without question, look to the past
> as to the way things should be and worry when things are changing,
> especially when in their view the change is bad. Rationals OTOH, view
> change and the past relativisticly, i.e., it's only good or bad
> depending on how you look at it. For example, Guardians might look back
> to the days when food was more "pure" and look upon with disgust the
> new fangled GM crops. Rationals might agree with the first part but also
> say "But look how many more people we can feed per acre and the population
> is healitier than ever!"
>
> Don't think that last statement makes us Rationals an optimisitc and
> carefree lot. On the contrary, being a 6% minority, we frequently view
> the world of humanity as an emotional and illogical group and are
> dismayed when others get mad at us for being logical and skeptical.
> (Did this just happen to Paul?)<g>
>
> Dr. Keirsey has dubbed the Rational temperament as the "knowledge
> seeking personality". We're on a lifelong quest to know about things
> and know how things work. Rationals typically regard a discussion as
> part of that quest for knowledge. When you get into a discussion with
> a Rational you better have data to back up your opinions because the
> Rational is looking to add to his/her knowledge base. If you have nothing
> useful to add you'll be discarded. Rationals in the heat of discussion
> about one of their passions can sometimes be ruthless and confrontational
> in their effort to weed out errors in the search for knowledge.
>
> Another key characterisitic about rationals is they tend to know what
> they know and know what they don't know. In my case I know that I don't
> know much about enotomology so I rarely have anything to offer. But I
> find the wide range of discussions on this list fascinating. My interest
> seldom wanes as there's almost always something new to learn. I admit that
> I find myself skeptical of most of what some of the long time leps-l
members
> post, but Rationals are also very open-minded and sometimes I give a big
> thumbs up to those I'm most skeptical of.
>
> Finally, in case you might have misinterpreted _this_ Rational, my above
> discussion is in no way meant to imply Rationals are better than any
> of the other three temperaments. It's simply a discussion of differences.
>
> Chuck Vaughn <aa6g at aa6g.org>
>
>