whoa nellie!, indeed

[Joe Varo]

Diana,

Though I'm sure that Andrew is more than able to defend himself here, I've
got to chime in about this post.

On Tue, 4 Mar 1997, Diana York Blaine wrote:

> Andrew (who frequently attacks many of us on this list for being
> middle-class

I dunno...I'm about as [lower]middle-class as they come and I've never
felt "attacked" by Andrew for my socioeconomic status.

> --sorry dude I am most definitely from the suburbs of Los Angeles

And I'm from the suburbs of Erie, PA...what's the point?

> and not sitting on a throne over there in the Holy Land of Anglia
> like you apparently are...)

I detect a bit of sarcasm here, and not of a joking/friendly sort.  The
only judgement I can make here is that you feel that Andrew thinks that he
is better than you, and perhaps many other P-listers, because he happens
to live in the UK.  As I've never felt attacked for my socioeconomic
status, nor have I ever felt belittled by Andrew because I'm a yank.

> [Andrew] annouces that all cultures lead to death and destruction.  Well
> that's a pretty gloss over what should be a carefully contextualized
> history of European imperialism and American know-how leading us
> straight to the bomb.  Don't blame all other cultures in your humanist
> rush to define the nature of homo-sapiens--plenty of peoples have
> inhabited this planet without propagating mythologies of domination and
> destruction and calling that progress.  Yes, we are wiping their asses
> off the map (as usual) but they do exist. You must know this but on some
> level I fear you do not. 

Hmmm...I must have missed, skipped and/or deleted the post where Andrew
said this.

> Just as I fear your need to dismiss The Crying of Lot 49 relates to the
> fact that identifying with the protagonist necessitates pretending to be
> a girlie for awhile.  Oooh yuck, can't swing that way!  Not when all
> that's noble and strong and true has a dick (and a rocket)  in its
> pants. 

And then you conclude with a snide remark insinuating that Andrew is a
sexist.

Anyway, what is with all of this personal sniping on this list as of late?
We now have (or had) Steelhead vs. Diana, Steelhead vs. davemarc, HenryM
vs. several, Rodney Welch vs. anyone-who-doesn't-care-for-Gore-Vidal,
the jrigney drive-by-troll, and now, it seems, Diana vs. Andrew.

What the hell ever happened to the ability to have an argument with
someone without resorting to name-calling, innuendo, insinuation,
snideness and general nastiness?

Disagreements are going to crop up now and again, and they're not always
going to have to do with TRP.  Personally, I don't mind non-TRP-stuff
creeping into the discussion, nor do I mind the occasional argument.  But
whatever happened to keeping a civil tongue in one's mouth?

Joe