anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (11/22/86)
I'm surprised by the size of the discussion set off by Harnad's objections to rathmann@brahms's language. One consequence we must all be noticing is how many times the "offensive" language has been requoted. By chance I have a tiny insider view of something pertinent: as I understand it, the poster was not Rathmann, who is away. Harnad has had his way, the account seems to be closed. I sent e-mail to it right after the post, suggesting that the rhetorical devices used might lead to the medium overshadowing the message. Is there anyone apart from me who feels the poster is achieving a certain status as hero (antihero?) for having provoked so many people to bother themselves about something so trivial in the large-scale problemscape? Is there anyone other than me who thanks the poster for having brought so many thought-police out in the open where we can see their IDs and know what to expect? I thought the language was obscuring a message that I rather agreed with (origins in language of sexism), but now I see that I missed the point altogether. The topic was merely a foil for the publication of art. Thank god for our diversity friends, lest we all sink into the bland common- denominator assigned to us by the Guardians of Correct Utterance, who would presumably reject the whirling prose of William Burroughs, the lusty roar of Henry Miller's laugh, and a thousand other bits of "offensive" language. Now I know the *primary* reason for the net is not to be the vehicle for art, and I would agree that art was likely *not* the poster's purpose, and we should all always be mindful of the wide range of sensibilities different from our own, but one measure of the net's vigor is its flexibility and great variety of viewpoints. *Some* of the objections surfacing here the past couple days strike me as a bit *too* intolerant. Civility is an agreement freely entered into, not an authoritarian stricture. Wouldn't you all agree that it's been rather more zesty than the which/that conundrum going on over in sci.lang? -- ==ARPA:====================anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson====== | UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz, 1210 W. Dayton | | akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson Madison, WI 53706 | ==BITNET:============================anderson@wiscmacc===608/263-6988=======