Hi Sanil What about these two words "stud" & "gigolo" c
----- Original Message ----- From: "sanil v" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 6:57 PM Subject: {greenyouth} Re: protest against moderation As someone who moderates postings by students - boys and girls - I do not think that Rajeender's public mails merit moderation. If this guy has been sending abusive personal emails, then he should be reported to the police. I denounce him. None of us should invite him home either. Some wife-beaters and perverts may have interesting things to say about Kerala, computers or even gender. Why shouldn't we listen to those? If this is liberalism, so be it! The prevailing consensus on the sexist and oppressive nature of certain words seems to be based on simplified and popular interpretations of the logic of binaries and stereotypes. Contemporary logic and philosophy of language have proposed a nuanced critique of binary logic and stereotypes. What is wrong with binaries? Some developments in logic show that binaries work through a law of composition which is not that of opposition or contradiction. Serious political criticism should shift its focus away from these binaries. They are nothing more than the dust collected in the wake of power. However, populist interpretations propagate exactly the opposite notion. They are still unearthing binaries behind every utterance and showing us that one of them is privileged over the other. They do this as if they are saying something significant about power or hegemony! They still fantasize about cleansing language and thinking of binaries! Such revenge against natural language, even if it manages to produce monotonic utterances, would not save us from hegemony. Now stereotypes! Psychoanalysis and theories of language have developed a sophisticated account of them. There is one insight most of them share. Stereotypes are not ideological constructs saturated with prejudices and ideological meanings. In fact, stereotypes are poor in meaning. They plug-in the gaps in the symbolic domain and give it consistency. Hence, their impenetrability to ideology critique. Our populist theoreticians pervert this insight and draw silly consequences. They still think that they can criticize stereotypes by revealing the prejudices condensed in them! That they harbor dangerous meaning is their lure. The stereotypical activist is their victim not critic. In the hands of some, this popular anti-stereophony/binarism has become a tool to ensure easy victory in all arguments. This is not to say that all stereotypes are harmless. Interpretation or censorship is not the best way to counter them. Some might wish to take a leaf out of the Sardarjis' book of dealing with Sardar jokes - mostly by laughing, sometimes with the sword and some other times by withdrawing into their thick beard of confidence. Using the word "whore" in a communicative context merits punishment. But, using a half-baked theory of stereotype to censor the use of the word "whore" in all discursive contexts is alarming. sanil ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
