In a message dated 13/09/01 04:55:32 GMT Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< You have always been one of my favorite people on the list and I have
admired in principle that you have courage to vigorously support and defend
a friend. However, you are egregiously wrong in your assessment of Michael
Paz. You are right - you do not know him well. Not your fault - but to
those of us who do know him, we cannot let this one lay here. I'm not going
to belabor here all the reasons why Paz is not the person you think he is -
he needs no detailed defense. Please, please do not make snap assumptions
of people when you do not know them or what they may or may not have done or
not done. Thank you, Kakki >>
Dear Kakki,
I understand your anger at my post; I had second thoughts about it myself,
and will do my best to explain what I wrote and apologise where appropriate.
I've had the beginnings of private correspondence with Paz, which I hope will
conclude amicably. If my post has made you or anyone else think I regard him
as the villain of the piece, I am truly sorry, and I don't blame anyone but
me for that. [Paz, I guess you'll read this, and it may partly answer some
of your questions, though I will still reply to your post to me yesterday]
One of the difficulties with this is that a lot of it is about Marcel, and I
don't want to drag him back into it any more than I have to, and about some
of the reactions to the events in America, which I similarly don't want to go
into. However, I can't think of a way of not talking about those things, as
it establishes the context; so please bear with me through that bit.
In a nutshell: I was truly appalled by his conduct towards Debra, and raised
a voice of protest against it, as did quite a number of listers. I know
beyond any reasonable doubt that it was a sustained campaign of harrassment.
I felt Marcel's refusal to accept any of the objections raised against him
about this behaviour was beyond the pale, and I felt the more people spoke up
the better, not because I wanted everyone to give him a good kicking, but
because I thought the more people objected, the more chance there was that he
might accept that he was out of line and, more to the point, stop doing it.
I never said that Paz was endorsing abusive behaviour, or that he was a bad
person; I still don't, and at the risk of sounding pious I have always
thought he was one of the great stars of the list, as of course you are (you
already know that). I did feel he stopped short of condemning it, for
whatever reasons - and I didn't try to impugn his reasons - when it might
have made a difference. I know how much Marcel respects Paz.
You may say it's not my place to expect anyone to condemn someone else's
behaviour, and I guess it isn't - but I did it respectfully in my initial
post to him, as I'm sure he would accept.
Then came that post from Marcel in which he used the atrocities in America as
further sticks with which to bash Debra (and Colin and me). Debra lost her
temper completely and lashed out, which I thought was understandable, given
how close she was to the disaster area, and what she was already having to
hold regarding the situation with Marcel - however, she lashed out at Paz,
which was bang out of order, and I was wrong to defend it. [I see that Debra
has now apologised for that]
I know folks must be weary of this debate, but your post deserved a response,
and I hope this response will not be seen as fanning the flames, but as an
attempt to patch things up.
Kind regards,
Azeem
NP: PJ Harvey - This Wicked Tongue
