community?

Thomas W. Rimkus (trimkus@COMP.UARK.EDU)
Wed, 15 Mar 1995 20:15:22 -0600

On Wed, 15 Mar 1995, William Bangs wrote:

> On Wed, 15 Mar 1995, Harriet Whitehead wrote:
>
> > to hear the different images people are coming up with to try to
> > understand the social nature of the "list" : a local bar, a salon, now a
> > seminar. Oh yes, and someone conjured up a herd of deer with 'young buck'
> > (presumably Johnson) challenging the male elders...hunh? Not really the
> > way a herd of deer is organized, and not an image that would've done
> > Johnson any good anyway considering the number of "does" on the list that
> > were voting for his exclusion. But still. The one image that no one seems
> > to conjure, but that fits Johnson's behavior the best is that of Hyde Park
> > corner, with soap-box harangers setting up their stations and carrying on
> > verbal abuse battles with their audience in between bouts of proclaiming
> > their message. (There are some bible-thumpers doing that on the WSU
> > campus right now). Entertaining, to be sure, but obviously not what most
> > of us listers want to engage in. Which brings me to my point: most of us
> > are unaware of the implicit social processes that are structuring our
> > engagements until something interferes with their normal use. In this
> > case, the process isn't 'censorship', really, it's exclusion. Its going
> > on all the time for both good and bad reasons, and usually we do it
> > through body language, subtle re-locations, pulling people aside etc.
> > Electronic media force us to see these tendencies a little more blatantly
> > than most of us are comfortable with.
> > I'd welcome other 'images' of the list as a social entity if
> > anyone's interested.
> >
> > Harriet Whitehead
> > Anthropology, WSU
>
> She's right!
>
Does this mean you agree with everything she says, without exclusion? If
so, please explain your position regarding the sexism hidden in her
statement, not to mention her ignorance of animal behavior. I cannot
argue with her main point, however. I think it is the change in
interaction among peers or adversaries caused by this electronic forum that
may be the main lesson in this whole affair.

Tom Rimkus
Arkansas