Foss To The Rescue [ again and again]

douglass st.christian (stchri@MCMAIL.CIS.MCMASTER.CA)
Wed, 6 Apr 1994 08:54:16 -0400

Dear Dan [ and anyone else who care to listen but who may not hear me
because in the background The Who are singing "Armenia, City in the Sky"
with raw abandon, and blood loud as well]....

As usual [ or better yet, as unusual since this Daniel Foss I am
'reacting' to] I have been brought up short by a question which, though
simple enough, cuts to the heart of a lingering and not more than a
little malevolent relationship with the 'speech' acts [ act in both sense
- to do and to perform, as in Hamlet] of anthro-l.

Just what could Graber of/in/from/because of Missouri say that would not
offend st christian, arch-canadian that he is?

Answer, in the current times and tempers - probably nothing. Long long
ago on a planet far away and even colder than Canada, Graber and stc
jousted momentarily about honesty in critical thought [ and also in
critical e-speeking as well] and neither contestant fell or was knocked
from their horse by the encounter. True warriors [sic] that
anthropologists in the ether are, an opportunity to send another snipe
down the e-pipe is rarely avoided by either party.

Graber has the advantage of being clearer than stc, in part because
graber has might on his side and so his weapons are shinier.

But why bother? [Several kind souls will, in response to those three
words, flood me with reply to messages but what the hay, email is for
deleting].

This - meaning anthro-l and its rapidly multiplying counterparts
throughout the ether - is not a critical forum, is not a place of
thoughtful dispute and reasoned disagreement. It has no rules of honesty
or evidence. Rather, e-lists such as this stroke the egos of the banal
and frustrate the good intentions of the curious [ who belongs to which
class i do not know, will not hazard any guesses] but at the end of the
day, like the glowing phosphorous that blinks at me as i type in these
words, amounts to little more than a few moments entertainment.

And so I withdraw my always frustrated snark at Bob Graber and his one step
dance because, folks, as the song fades slowly on the ol' 8 track,
like McDonalds and food, Graber and debate is an oxymoron....

D......