In the interest of completeness, here is the "final straw" email and the email I sent asking to be unsubscribed from the empyre list.
It was that dude Henry Warwick again, the one I made fun of my page, and a more pompous condescending spew I simply cannot imagine. As Kyle McLachlan says in Blue Velvet, "Why are there people like Frank Booth in the world?" I found myself helpless before this tripe--I could only ask for mercy to be spared having to read any more of it. The italicized comments are Warwick's:
On Jun 15, 2005, at 3:57 PM, Chris Ashley wrote:
>
> I think this is a really good point, and one worth
> acknowledging and repeating. Don't confuse the tool's
> current application with its potential. There was the
> early dream by some of the web's democratizing
> capability- that citizens will be more involved and
> empowered. If that was the case George W. would not
> be president.
Indeed. I was working at Macromedia from 1995 - 1998 doing tech support
for FreeHand, fontographer, and then Dreamweaver. When they first
acquired the engineers for Dreamweaver and I was trained on how to
support it, I thought it was amazing - kind of like "Quark Xpress" for
the web. Then at a company-wide shindig at Pajaro Dunes Resort, (those
were the days....) in between massive all night drinking binges, we
actually got together in groups and discussed the products etc. I'll
never forget my supervisor's look when we were talking about
Dreamweaver - he had a great smile, as he thought "A great
democratisation - everyone will be able to make a web page - oh the
beauty..."
then his eyes widened, and he said
"oh, the horror...EVERYONE will make a webpage..."
and sure enough: within months a million pictures of pets were scanned,
record collections listed, etc. Oh. The Horror.
But then, I was on a list that shut down not long ago because the topic
of conversation for a week was "List all the crap on your desk". The
List Owner threw a fit and killed the list. I thought it was kind of
cool, myself...
> The web has leveled the playing field
> for easy entry, but the discipline of practice and the
> place of the author filter out the good from the bad.
I dunno. I tend to think people find an audience or vice versa. Good or
bad - I dunno - depends on the audience I suppose. Discipline is a
means to an end and not an end in itself - but practice is a good thing
as it creates consistency. I think the author gains more from a
practice than the audience.
SVM wrote:
>> blogs m.body a perspective of elementary content
>> alteration in a melange of
>> communication dynamics driven/governed by economic
>> rationalism + blanket
>> perspectivism.....
I would like some elaboration on that, myself. It sounds intriguing,
but has a scent of philological obscurantism + blanket reductionism...
> And Nietzsche's idea that truth depends on our
> prespective? Yes.
Hmmm- so then solipsism is the only verifiable truth structure?
Somehow, I don't think you'd agree with that, but it's a risk of
relativist arguments going back to - oh jeeepers - a long way.
Besides - Nietzsche was crazy.
;-)
HW
And my unsubscribe request (a scream for help--emailed to the empyre list earlier tonight)
Michael, Melinda, anybody...
Will you please unsubscribe me from the list? This is getting really
painful, getting these horrible emails...
Chris is doing his best to answer questions and gets these "I dunno... I
dunno" answers from this blowhard.
Such condescension, and the moderators don't do anything to stop it.
So many emails that are rude and condescending to the (remaining) guest.
I can't stand reading these emails anymore! Nothing substantive is being
said, it's a nightmare! Release me from this prison!
Best, Tom Moody
|
On Jun 15, 2005, at 3:57 PM, Chris Ashley wrote:
>
> I think this is a really good point, and one worth
> acknowledging and repeating. Don't confuse the tool's
> current application with its potential. There was the
> early dream by some of the web's democratizing
> capability- that citizens will be more involved and
> empowered. If that was the case George W. would not
> be president.
Indeed. I was working at Macromedia from 1995 - 1998 doing tech support
for FreeHand, fontographer, and then Dreamweaver. When they first
acquired the engineers for Dreamweaver and I was trained on how to
support it, I thought it was amazing - kind of like "Quark Xpress" for
the web. Then at a company-wide shindig at Pajaro Dunes Resort, (those
were the days....) in between massive all night drinking binges, we
actually got together in groups and discussed the products etc. I'll
never forget my supervisor's look when we were talking about
Dreamweaver - he had a great smile, as he thought "A great
democratisation - everyone will be able to make a web page - oh the
beauty..."
then his eyes widened, and he said
"oh, the horror...EVERYONE will make a webpage..."
and sure enough: within months a million pictures of pets were scanned,
record collections listed, etc. Oh. The Horror.
But then, I was on a list that shut down not long ago because the topic
of conversation for a week was "List all the crap on your desk". The
List Owner threw a fit and killed the list. I thought it was kind of
cool, myself...
> The web has leveled the playing field
> for easy entry, but the discipline of practice and the
> place of the author filter out the good from the bad.
I dunno. I tend to think people find an audience or vice versa. Good or
bad - I dunno - depends on the audience I suppose. Discipline is a
means to an end and not an end in itself - but practice is a good thing
as it creates consistency. I think the author gains more from a
practice than the audience.
SVM wrote:
>> blogs m.body a perspective of elementary content
>> alteration in a melange of
>> communication dynamics driven/governed by economic
>> rationalism + blanket
>> perspectivism.....
I would like some elaboration on that, myself. It sounds intriguing,
but has a scent of philological obscurantism + blanket reductionism...
> And Nietzsche's idea that truth depends on our
> prespective? Yes.
Hmmm- so then solipsism is the only verifiable truth structure?
Somehow, I don't think you'd agree with that, but it's a risk of
relativist arguments going back to - oh jeeepers - a long way.
Besides - Nietzsche was crazy.
;-)
HW
And my unsubscribe request (a scream for help--emailed to the empyre list earlier tonight)
Michael, Melinda, anybody...
Will you please unsubscribe me from the list? This is getting really
painful, getting these horrible emails...
Chris is doing his best to answer questions and gets these "I dunno... I
dunno" answers from this blowhard.
Such condescension, and the moderators don't do anything to stop it.
So many emails that are rude and condescending to the (remaining) guest.
I can't stand reading these emails anymore! Nothing substantive is being
said, it's a nightmare! Release me from this prison!
Best, Tom Moody
- tom moody 6-16-2005 6:14 am