Re: lead, kindly light...
Jean Hantman (j.hantman@worldnet.att.net)
Sat, 07 Aug 1999 08:54:24 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: Scottie Bowman <rbowman@indigo.ie>
To: Bananafish <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu>
Date: Saturday, August 07, 1999 7:24 AM
Subject: lead, kindly light...
>
> There's really nothing - nothing at all - more infantile
> than some petulant old man whiningly demanding one
> more word. But I *do* have some remaining difficulty
> with the idea of attacking the idea & not the person.
> It's the old Christian injunction about hating the sin,
> not the sinner.
>
> But is it realistic?
It reminds me that an American will more freely murder his mother than admit
he hates his mother or so said a European observer.
Jean
>
> Imagine that someone had written to the list:
> '... Where Salinger's really disgusting Jewishness comes out
> is in his cloying obsession with family. Family, family,
> family, that's all we ever hear. They're all the same,
> you know. I never met a Jew yet who wasn't overawed
> by his Yiddisha Momma. ...'
>
> This could be read as a valid comment on Salinger's writing
> & the writer might be expressing his honestly held opinion
> of Jews. Yet it surely demands - & would almost certainly
> get - something a little more muscular AND PERSONAL
> than a gentle expression of regret at the persistance in our society
> of anti-semitism. None of us has a problem when the 'personal'
> attack is prompted by an 'acceptable' trigger.
>
> But if I'M exasperated by posts with remorselessly lower case
> sentences & the practice strikes me as an affectation employed
> only by unoriginal & self-congratulatory writers how do I express
> this exasperation without being 'personal' about those who *do*
> employ it? Anti-semitism bad, sloppy writing all right, right?
>
> Anyway, why all this demand for kindness? It's frightfully bad
> for one. The soul strengthens & flourishes in a chill climate.
> I'm sure my own cheerful equanimity is largely thanks to all
> the unkind treatment I've received over the years - not least
> on this list. I'm endlessly grateful.
>
> Scottie B.
>
>
>
>