Shallow Intellectual Drivel on this List: No Diving
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Wed, 29 Jul 1998 21:51:42 -0400
Camille Scaysbrook wrote:
> Funny. Ironic, too - to me you've just described Franny Glass, if not the
> whole Glass family!
What a happy coincidence.
> Seriously, if we're here to slang flames at one another I don't see why
> we're bothering. In the words of ... well, some very smart person `Why
> can't we all just get along'. Let's respect each others' opinions and
> methods of enquiry into texts - like I've said, the amateurs shouldn't fear
> the rhetoric of the intellectuals, and likewise the intellectuals should
> not write off the amateurs as cheese-eating highschool kids.
The current exchange between Patrick and me is not a flame war, nor is
my concern with the definition of the word "universal" a matter of
intellectual rhetoric.
Universal appeal is a fine thing in theory, but not when it becomes this
or that form of ethnocentrism, and especially not when the ethnocentrism
goes unrecognized. Amasa Delano is all the uglier a villain for
thinking himself a nice man.
Similarly, everyone getting along is a splendid idea, but not when it
becomes complacency, and especially not when the getting along
degenerates into epidemic mutual appreciation. See what your man Zooey
has to say about communal back-slapping.
--
Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu