A Small Explanation

Brian Hall (pp00918@ppp.kcc.edu)
Fri, 09 Jan 1998 09:05:46 -0400

To all subscribers:

It's 8:30 and a beautiful Friday morning.  I want to apologize to
everyone on the list for a couple things:

Perhaps I exhibited bad etiquette by not responding so often to the
list.  I find, as many of you may also, that I quite often in life jump
from one thing to another rather quickly.  For a while I got excited by
classical music and now have several books and a few hundred CDs in my
library.  Then it was film and I developed quite an affinity for
mail-order (yikes) and so I have stacks and stacks of videotapes--not to
mentioned being betaed by laser-disc.  My point--I bought several, in
fact most, of Salinger's books a few weeks before I signed on to the
list (a renewed interest) and thus sought out something like this on the
web.  Nevertheless, the leitmotif of my adult life dictated that I get
bored with the subject (sorry).  So, no, I didn't speak up.  I
apologize.

What usually would galvanize me into speaking up were subjects off the
subject, such as the recent discussion (which I won't mention here). 
I'm about to graduate as a fiction writer and literature major and have
developed certain anitpathies to certain ideas over the last few years. 
My mistake was, I admit, making blanket statements without immediately
backing them up. MY ALACRITY TO RESPOND GOT IN THE WAY OF MY BEING
CIRCUMSPECT.  (ever happen to any of you?) In fact, I deserved the
original responses.  What I don't feel I deserved was the name calling,
but I have forgiven.  ANother trick, I feel I am rather good at, is
subtle condescension.  And, of course, many of you have developed some
prowess in this as well.  You know who you are.  :) These are things I
know I should work on in this environment.

What I'm getting at:  Discussions like this are no problem for me in
person, face to face.  For several semesters I have spent time in
seminars where I distribute my own work to everyone in the class and am
forced to sit through an hour or two of each class mate picking at it
(I'm sure many of you have experienced this as well).  In that
situation, we all can be quite gentil and very often ferocious.
Fortunately, these conversations always end in drinks and laughs at a
local bar, or even handshakes and jokes in the hallways.  I guess, on
the internet, we lose certain amenities of physical contact, real world
discussion.  Like making a sarcastic remark but being able to crack a
smile that tells the person you're only kidding.  As I said before, even
when it seemed to be getting ugly, I was laughing at my desk.  I guess
it's hard to relay that with a :) or a j/k.

Finally, I apologize for an extra long message and hope that in, at
least this one response, no one will take offense.  And, perhaps, as a
newcomer to the list (intellectually if not physically), I can help you
all better understand the feelings of "alienation and censure" a
"newbie" may feel (perhaps wrongly) when at first he chooses to speak.

I hope everyone of you has a great day.  I promise to make an effort to
avoid condescension (and to avoid it when I see it) and to avoid falsely
attempting axiomatic statements.

Peace and a good day to all!