Selma, Your letter is well written and points are well made. My guess, however, is that Ray may feel a bit under- appreciated in your denying that his is "intimidatory"
Bill On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 14:46:42 -0400 "Selma Singer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Keith Hudson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 10:29 AM > Subject: [Futurework] Future plans > > > Keith wrote: > > I am also completely, thoroughly and utterly tired of constantly > seeing > > postings about his ancestors or his emotive ravings about the > particular > > sort of music he likes. > > Selma: > > Just for the record, I would like to state that Ray's discussion of > his > ancestors has been, for me, enlightening and profoundly insightful. > > There appears to be some agreement among some on this list ( you can > see > that I am choosing my words carefully) that Western society (and all > those > societies presently becoming 'Westernized' or Americanized' ) are > terribly > deficient in a spiritual base of some sort; that a center of > morality and > humanity just doesn't seem to be there and some will argue, like me, > that > this is at the base of most if not all of our problems. > > Ray's discussion of his ancestors is never just for the sake of > discussing > his ancestors. It is always in a larger context of trying to reason > out what > we can learn from culture(s) that do have a spiritual base and a > moral > center and to compare the behavior in those cultures > as it contrasts with our own. > > As for Ray's 'emotive ravings about the particular sort of music he > likes'- > those discussions also are never for the reason of letting us know > what he > likes or trying to persuade us to like what he likes- they are also, > always, > in a context of trying to illustrate some larger principle that is > important > for us to look at if we are to have some important understandings of > what is > wrong-and perhaps, even, what may be right with our own culture. > > It seems to me to be terribly pathetic and illustrative of precisely > that > lack of moral and spiritual understanding I speak of above, that > Ray's > discussions of aesthetics as being basic to human and social > development can > be dismissed as 'emotive ravings about a particular sort of music he > likes'. > > > Keith: > > He is patronising and intimidatory, and I believe > > that many other intelligent and thoughtful people would be > subscribers to > > Futurework and could be writing here for all our benefit were it > not for > > his long and rambling postings which are often impossible to > understand > > unless you give each paragraph a great deal of study. > > Selma: > > I find Ray anything but patronizing and intimidatory. He has > demonstrated a > kind of patience and understanding that I can only admire. I fully > understand his frustration at having to deal with the kind of > responses he > receives. > > I have chosen to refuse to invest my time and energy as he does in > an > attempt to contribute to a conversation that he keeps hoping will > lead to > some important insights and understandings of human and social > behavior. I > am somewhat older than Ray and perhaps my experience as a woman > makes me a > little more aware of the kinds of conversations in which many > participants > are more interested in proving they are right than in coming to any > real > understanding of anything. There is a considerable literature that > testifies > to this as being more a male characteristic than a female > characteristic. I > have learned to conserve my energy and choose my fights as a result. > I have > to admit that I sometimes have pangs of guilt that I am not trying > to give > Ray a helping hand as he battles here. But it has seemed to me to > be > hopeless. > > However, I read his posts avidly; I have no trouble understanding > what he is > talking about; I have learned a great deal and understood so much > more than > I did before I was lucky enough to encounter him on this list. Many > of the > things he says are insights that just feel so true and right. If I > ever > write that definitive book of social theory I will owe him an > enormous debt > for clarifying so much that should have been obvious but wasn't > until he > expressed it as only he can. > > Selma > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
