Greetings SuperWizard, OMG!!! That was hysterical!!! It would be indecent to confess to how hard I laughed.
Marsha At 11:37 AM 4/5/2008, you wrote: >Everyone in general, No one in particular, Dan and Matt mentioned: > >On Plains-Speak: > >[Dan] >I cannot speak for others but it seems to me that any words tend to stain >the purity (so to speak) of the discussion and so can be twisted into >something not at all intended; so often times it's better not to say >anything at all. I guess that's why my draft folder is full of unsent >messages that will (probably) never be read, and my document folder is full >of unpublished essays languishing in the graveyard of dreams. > >[Krimel] >I go through periods where I tune in the car radio to catch Limbaugh, >Hannity, Dobson, Bennett... I want to know what these folks think and why >they think that way. Before too long I find myself talking, sometimes >talking loudly, back at them. It seems to me that folders full of unsent >messages are just shouting at the windshield. > >Too me at least, IMHO, the point of an interactive medium like this is to >get those ideas out there and see if they stick. They seem profound when the >windows are rolled up but if Limbaugh was in the pickup truck stuck in >traffic next to you? How profound would he find those musings on his >musings? The idea is not so much to convince someone else that you are right >as to see how right you sound to someone else and to teach yourself to sound >righter. > >If the words stain the purity of my thoughts maybe I should find better >words or start wondering if I haven't confused purity with sterility. > >[Dan] >Still, Matt does have a point worth noting. This "softening" can also be >used as a tool by the reader to lessen the value of a statement by opening >the writer up to the possibility of being wrong. If not used though, >statements lacking such an admission have a pompous and arrogant feel to >them that I find distasteful. So I find it useful to remind myself that it >is just my opinion and nothing more even though it's possible that different >connotations could be assigned to such an admission. I take my chances, in >other words. > >[Krimel] >I hear what you are saying but I have to ask, "Does adding IMHO mean >anything?" Does anyone here think that anything put into an e-mail could >possibly be other than the author's opinion? Is the point of what we do here >really to change the minds of others or to sharpen our own? > >Once words leave the purity of our thoughts none of us can say how they will >impact another. Silence leaves us wondering if someone else heard what we >said; or if what they heard is what we meant; or even if what we said was >what we meant. I would say 'softening' is a prescription for muddy waters. > >I attend several lectures series at a local college where serious academics >discuss each other's work. The tone is always professional and dignified as >in: "I greatly admire the level of scholarship Professor Puffalicious >displays in his paper, but I wonder if..." After a while it isn't hard to >tell when the words are sincere and when they sincerely mean, "Professor >Puffalicious is a insufferable dipshit." > >[Matt] >Oh, and Dan: you should hold me responsible for my style, though perhaps not >others. I try to be a self-conscious stylist, and I happen to like some of >the stuff others can't stand, even some of the more prosaic academic >writing. Which is fair enough: we all make choices. > >[Krimel] >Everyone here speaks in their own voice. What's important is that it IS your >own voice. I think the point of these discussions is to develop our voices. >To sharpen our use of language, to make our meanings more clearly stated so >that they will be more clearly heard. Our criticisms of each other should >likewise be aimed helping others do the same. If you think what I am saying >is stupid or poorly stated, you do me no service by softening the blow. > >On that great day when Shawn Hannity or Ken Wilber makes the mistake of >rolling up beside me at a red light; believe me I will thank you one and all >for whatever abuse you graciously heaped on me today. > >[Dan] >I myself tend to rationalize this display of 'academicitis' as a symptom of >the disease anyone who has gone through higher education is afficted with >for which you yourself are not to be held responsible any more than if you >had a cold or the flu. We are dealing with social patterns of value now >though and not biological but I do believe we can safely say there are >similarities. You're a product of the system, just as we all are. > >[Krimel] >So this sounds to me like what is really being said is "Fucking college >boy!" Or I could soften that by hearing, "I enjoy the level of effort you >put into your work, you fucking college boy." > >Two bits a dollar for the school of hard knocks. > >When I was a young fucking college boy, just out of the ivory tower, one of >my first jobs was as a newspaper reporter. I got told really fast in no >uncertain terms to stop beating around the bush. "Weasel words are for >weasels," my incarnation of Perry White would say. > >He bought us all copies of Strunk and White and told us that adjectives and >the passive voice don't mean diddly in a libel suit. Say what you mean and >mean what you say and if you couldn't, he'd explain how, in terms not fit >for a family newspaper. > >[Dan] >I don't like to hurt people's feelings. I would rather absorb the hurt >myself without passing it along, which is why (without naming names) I (have >and will continue to) ignore many posts responding to my writings. > >[Krimel] >Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, I hear you, Dan. So you won't be on my thank you >list on "that great day." > >Surly editors aside, I come from a family where no holiday is complete until >Mom says, "Alright, that's enough! You boys take that outside!" It is a >testimony to our mutual love that three of us grew to manhood with only one >cracked rib and a few stitches among us. Lots of bruises, plenty of wounded >pride but the most serious injuries were self inflicted. I could never own a >pocket knife without whacking a finger and getting all nauseous from the >dripping blood. One brother lost his eyebrows trying to coax life into a >smoldering smoke bomb by sprinkling it with black power from the can. One >brother shot himself in the tongue with a BB gun. > >Every Christmas we have these ruthless all nighters of the board game Risk. >One year to get even with me for being late, everyone conspired to make sure >that the game dragged on but that I would lose. I was being all rational, >making strategies, forging alliances, but getting royally hosed over. >Finally someone did something that actually hurt them more than it hurt me >but still hurt me enough to jump up, exclaim, "This is pointless!' and stomp >off. > >Fifteen years later, at Christmas I can count on hearing "Jingle Bells", >"Ho, ho, ho", "Bah hum bug" and a whiney chorus of "This is pointless!" >Perhaps I should have borne the insult in silence. There is something to be >said for that. The incident would be long forgotten by now. But then I think >of all the joy it brings others at Christmas time with the opening of >presents, pouring salt in old wounds. I get to feel a bit of that kind of >joy myself every time I ask my brother how a BB tastes. > >[Dan] >I don't know exactly what to make of all this though I suspect it revolves >around what RMP calls "Plains-spoken" in LILA. > >[Krimel] >One of the examples Pirsig gives of plain spoken folk is the Sundance Kid. > >"The voice of an unseen gambler says, 'Well, it looks like you cleaned >everybody out, fella. You haven't lost a hand since you got the deal.' >There is no change in the Kid's expression. >'What's the secret of your success?' the gambler's voice continues. It is >threatening. Ominous. >Sundance looks down for a while as if thinking about it, then looks up >unemotionally. 'Prayer,' he says. >He doesn't mean it but he doesn't say it sarcastically either. It's a >statement poised on a knife edge of ambiguity." > >A word plainly spoken, its meaning left for others to decide and when they >do bodies hit the floor. Plains-spoken words need plains-spoken ears; there >is risk on both sides. > >Plains-speak should be honest, direct and from the heart but Pirsig doesn't >say it is polite or respectful: > >"Europeans often think of white Americans as being too direct and >plain-spoken, bad-mannered and sort of insolent the way they do things, but >Indians are even more that way." > >Sometimes when I am listening to the AM, pounding my steering wheel and >speaking plainly to the windshield, I take a deep breath; a moment of >pranayama. I let a wave of bliss wash over me and in the purity of the >moment I reflect that some around me are calm. They are not shouting at >their windshields they are singing to theirs. I flip the radio to golden >oldies on the FM. > >There it is! > >The Byrds are singing Ecclesiastes, "To everything there is a season and a >time to every purpose under heaven." > >I sure hope I am not listening to that crap on that great day when Rush >Limbaugh pulls up beside me. > > > >Moq_Discuss mailing list >Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. >http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org >Archives: >http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ >http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars... Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
