Racial diveristy here and possible (probable maybe,
Andrew Charles Kennis (holden@escape.com)
Mon, 10 Aug 1998 22:51:26 -0400 (EDT)
On Sat, 1 Aug 1998 Kayllie@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 98-07-31 19:36:28 EDT, you write:
>
> << I am skeptical about our racial diversity, but that's a rather large
> unknown due to the nature of our medium here. >>
>
> Wow, that's a pretty amazing statement. What makes you skeptical about the
> racial diversity of this list? That statement smacks of enormous assumption
> and prejudice if you ask me. I wonder if you' d clarify.
>
> Peggy
>
Hmmmmmmmmmm, I don't know how one's skepticisms can be characterized as
being presumptious, let alone prejudiced; nevertheless though, I'll try
and 'clarify' the reasoning underlying my skepticism.
The last I heard, the % of U.S. households that have PC's in 'em was like
hovering around 35%. In contrast to what the mass media would have you
believe, that figures hints at a rather strikingly different reality.
I can only imagine the % and racial/socio-economic diveristy of the
people who even know about and/or use e-mail list serve groups. It is
this very important reason that I would question and/or be skeptical about
the racial diversity of almost any list serve.
There is another reason for my skepticism though. This involves the
subject of our beloved list serve, JDS himself. It is an undebatable fact
that JDS's writing unwavingly depicts very privilidged people and
lifestyles. Such upper crust ways of life in fiction have the dubious
effect of alienating readers not familiar, accustomed to, or even
sympathetic to those of such a class standing. Those who have worked with
other with minority racial backgrounds, as my Aunt who has taught high
schol English in the Bronx for the last three decades, all know and are
way familiar with the kind of reception granted to JDS's works and those
of similar upper class depictions. Let's just say the reception isn't
that favorable.
Now, I imagine that some may respond to the above paragraph in a defensive
fashion, please don't. I am in no way trying to attack JDS for the people
he portrays in his fiction. Please remember what I was pointing out this
leaning of JDS for, simply as an explanation for skepticism I have about
the diversity of this list. Also remember that my skepticism is rooted
in purely general terms, in other words I wouldn't be surprised if there
was significant exceptions here. And since I am only skeptical about this
matter, I wouldn't be astoundingly surprised if I was wrong about my
suspicions (though, I'd be surprised if there was converse to what I would
guess, not only significant racial diversity, but significant class
diversity here as well).
As long as we're on the topic though, there's another perception of mine,
of the demographics of JDS's following (on this list, and off of it as
well), that I'd like to share and see what others think. While at
Grinnell College, which had a substantial number of international
students, and also while here at NYC (the capital of the world, some say)
I have run into a number of people not from the states who have read JDS.
With hardly any exceptions, if any at all, I have found that many of them
could not relate to JDS's writing, at all. A strange reaction to anybody
accustomed to the pervasiveness of people who feel they can 'like, oh my
god, TOTALLY relate to Holden Caulfield...,' etc., etc. However, when I
thought about the fact that JDS's writing is quite struct with Americana,
it seemed less surprising that those not from the U.S. didn't seem to feel
all that connected to JDS's writing style. Now, as far as this particular
skepticism of mine and its accuracy or lack thereof, we already know that
there are exceptions to it, at least judging from our list which has a few
non-U.S. people on it. Nevertheless, I still think it may have some truth
to it, this lil' observation of mine that is, and I'm wondering if anybody
else has ever shared the same thoughts.
--AK