I appreciate most of the postings to pen-l, despite (or is it because of?) their difference. I usually find Doug's very interesting and informative. I rarely delete Jim's without first scanning for gems of wisdom (or better, bits of gossip). I (rightly or wrongly) associate Anders' name with the on-line budget simulation, now departed (or just hidden?), so I consider him an exemplary public citizen. Their anti-pomo vitriol really doesn't annoy me. First, I can't even imagine the possibility of *a* pomo *approach*, much less such a *movement* (it'd be an oxyoxymoronmoron, or some such, right?), so criticism of "it", no matter how "unfair" in principle, has little practical weight. Second, since those critical evidently don't *get* much from reading "pomo" stuff, why should they waste time engaging it? Finally, more than a few of the folks who do spend their time reading and talking about such are overly self-conscious, mannered, elusive and conceited. Yuck. I sympathize with those who want to avoid unpleasant social experiences. On the other hand, I think Jerry's got a point when he protests the adequacy of a twenty minute glancing or the value of a paragraph review. Tom's two word dismissal of Reading Capital and Anders' disingenous demand for *any* example of a pomo approach that would satisfy *his* criteria, are not cute coming from adults. Steve asked for a serious discussion of the ideas, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Why even post on the topic, if you can't accord respect to such a reasonable request? Here's a quote from the title page of Part I of Mike Gane's book on Baudrillard (quoting the mandarin himself): "The tangled web of hatreds, of complicities, of rivalries between different schools of thought and of changes in mood causes each atom in the intellectual world...to prefer itself, while all the atoms detest each other...The fact that certain disconcerting effects of beauty and truth may spring forth from time to time...remains a miraculous paradox." Personally, at least in this case, I think the effect of the sentiment is enhanced by the style. Joe Joseph E Medley ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Department of Economics University of Southern Maine Portland, ME 04104-9300 (207) 780-4293 fax: (207) 780-5507
