Jbor Loves Toni

[Henry Musikar]

Jbor wrote:
Henry, you asserted that Toni Morrison was ignorant of the fact that 
the Venus de Milo originally had arms. You were adamant that was 
exactly what you heard her saying in the radio interview, 

[hm] The text above is just simply untrue.

and it was the sole basis of your criticisms that she was "ignorant",
"ignorant of 
art history", and "miseducating and misdirecting the emotions of 
thousands of people" (the latter two statements offlist to me). 

[hm] Not being aware of the depths of Jbor's passion would render him
unreasonable (which I only mean literally), I didn't realize that I should
have made myself clearer when I communicated "offlist" to him.  The
ignorance of art history to which I referred was not of whether the VdM was
created with arms and head; hell, I wasn't even thinking of the VdM at all,
but rather that many cultures have made fetishes of torsos, male and female;
the concentration on the mass that is the body, without the extremities.
And how about the abuse that cubists heaped upon the human figure, torturing
and disfiguring it until it was just... art!  Whatever Toni Morrison's
intention was, her categorical statement that the VdM is misogynist did her
listeners a disservice, coming from an author as respected, and apparently
revered, as Ms. Morrison.

Like I said to you initially when you got all riled up for being called on
it, 
the ignorance you demonstrated in calling her "ignorant" on that basis 
was sufficient provocation to respond.

[hm] "Called on it?"  What is this?  Schoolyard taunting?  Perhaps I should
have taken more time so that schoolboys wouldn't get too upset with my use
of the word "ignorant," for that seems to be the crux of Jbor's objection;
yes, I admit that there are many things of which Morrison is not ignorant,
so I apologize for misleading and sullying tender ears.

Just take a step back for a moment and consider how much your 
anti-feminist anger blinded you to common sense. Apparently it never 
occurred to you how unlikely it is that a public gaffe of that 
magnitude, from a Nobel Prize laureate and friend of Oprah no less, 
wouldn't have rated a mention somewhere in the media. And apparently 
you didn't find it odd that the interviewer didn't realise either that 
the Venus de Milo originally had arms. Or what, you thought you were 
the only listener, the only one paying attention, that she was speaking 
*only to you*? Good grief.

[hm]  I can see it on the 10 o'clock news: Nobel Prize Laureate (and FOO!)
Dr. (for she must have a doctorate by now) Toni Morrison was Unjustly
Critical of an Ancient Work of Art during an interview with her on a
Pacifica (or was it NPR) radio show and the interviewer DIDN'T ARGUE WITH
HER (O, of course, would have)!  OMG!  
Gripping stuff, eh?

Maybe there is something to be said regarding Morrison's thoughts on 
the Venus de Milo, and, like I wrote, it'd be good to know what those 
thoughts actually were, not some blatant redneck misrepresentation of 
them.

[hm] I get it now.  Reading the above paragraph, Jbor is either a troll,
ignorant, or blinded and made less intelligent by PC passion, or maybe this
is just some new lit-crit-mail-list version of candid camera.  Boy, Jbor,
you really had me going there.