Walking, not talking

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Well, S. Nelson pointed out that unclear writing can perform social
functions of various kinds. Her praise for the Talmud makes we wonder
whether the obscurantists of today--deconstructionists, postmodernists,
poststructuralists (postcommunicationists, I should say)--construct
themselves as building a religious tradition of some kind, in which
mystification is a divine duty? C. Pound responds to queries with
verbiage and copious bibliographic references. I laughed aloud at M.
Korp's gentle remonstration: "We were looking for someone to do the
walk, not the talk." IT reminds me of D. St. Christian's assertion a
while back that anthropology could assert no from of truth until it had
conducted an investigation of how truth is constructed--as if he really
meant to investigate something, and as if you could do so without
implicitly embracing scientific--even positivistic--assumptions. You
called their bluff, M. Korp: They won't be doing any walking; just
talking, and talking, and talking. And none of it will be clear.
--Bob Graber

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