turner (03/04/83)
#N:ucbesvax:2900016:000:1884
ucbesvax!turner Mar 3 20:21:00 1983
While we're all waiting for the next round of flame on the
Kirkpatrick issue, how about....
A NEW TOPIC
....no less controversial than the previous. It has to do with
an anthropology professor (Mosher) at Stanford. This issue has the
advantage of being more restricted to the general subject area of
"college". It has several disadvantages:
- it has to do with abortion, and hence will invite pro/con
arguments ad infinitum (see net.women -- or better yet, don't!
They deserve a break); net.flame is always open to these;
- it has elements of "freedom of speech" controversy in it, and
that one has almost been done to death here;
- it has to do with human rights in a Communist country, thus
inviting flame without inviting more balanced kinds of
comparison of the human rights situation of in non-Communist
countries (e.g., "Only in a Collectivist nightmare-regime
could atrocities of such barbarity even happen...").
It may not be the BEST topic, but it IS a new one. So let's not
incinerate each other, please? [Even] I will try to hold mine down to
a page or two, assuming others can manage to keep the accusations/
insults/lies down to one such solecism per paragraph in their
(hopefully shorter) diatribes. The key here is: keep to the subject.
Feistily Yours,
Michael Turner
P.S. Note that I don't fill in any details on this case. I assume
you have read about it, or will if it sounds sufficiently interesting.
This has one advantage: ignoramuses (ignorami?) will get a late start,
or will even be too confused to contribute. (Yay!) I also don't inform
you of MY stand on the issue. This has the advantage of leaving room
for others to suffer some public vilification. My opinions will soon
become clear (or maybe muddy? I sometimes change my mind.)mcewan (03/18/83)
#R:ucbesvax:2900016:uiucdcs:32400003:000:122 uiucdcs!mcewan Mar 17 14:38:00 1983 I take it that your definition of "ignoramuse" is "someone who doesn't know about everything that happens in California".
turner (03/21/83)
#R:ucbesvax:2900016:ucbesvax:2900020:000:820
ucbesvax!turner Mar 21 03:01:00 1983
Thank you for responding to the "Mosher @ Stanford" note.
I'm glad someone knows more about it than I do. How does it
(i.e., grad. student vs. professor) make a difference, by the
way? Noam Chomsky notes that a good many people who could be
doing valuable research are driving taxicabs. (Well, I didn't
need to name-drop to make that point...) The justice of such
situations occasionally needs some prying into, if it is not to
become injustice. This is the price of all freedoms, academic or
otherwise. And academic freedom is not an academic question --
it might in fact be a practical necessity for the survival of all
the "otherwise" freedoms. That's partly why I suggested this
topic for discussion.
Respectfully,
Michael Turner
ucbvax!esvax:turner