[lit-ideas] Re: The Short Answer

On 2004/08/28, at 2:54, Paul Stone wrote:

> Personally, I have lost enthusiasm for composing long posts that 
> suffer the
> following fate:
>
> 1) The main thesis is ignored, mainly because it is
>
>          a) too difficult to discuss quickly;
>          b) might evolve into a flamewar;
>
>          or {most frequently}
>
>          c) other, more juicy aspects of an otherwise serious post are
> picked up on and THOSE are what are the SAME-titled thread continues 
> about
>
> 2) as such, the main thesis is never answered
>
> 3) if the same issues are revisited, someone inevitably says "That was
> discussed on [insert date here]" when in fact, it WASN'T "discussed" at
> all. It was brought up. Discussed? No, not very much.
>
> So... what I think has happened is that the bar regulars are a bit 
> tired of
> posting well-thought-out stuff when the responses are rarely
> well-thought-out and even more rarely on topic.

There is much good sense in what Paul writes here. But allow me to add 
a couple of thoughts concerning causes and a possible solution.

Part of what's going on is, I believe, a natural process that affects 
many lists. What the list is first formed, the newcomers have a great 
deal to say to each other. Simply sorting out basic positions can be 
all sorts of fun. After a while, however, the regulars' positions 
become familiar, their list personalities solidify. To move beyond this 
point does require more thought and, worse for busy people, homework. 
It is here, I believe, that our usual approaches to list conversation 
fail us. Why? Because too many of us retain the conversational habits 
of school, in which it is assumed that everyone in a class is reading 
the same texts. In this context, a brief quote evokes a shared body of 
knowledge that allows the conversation to proceed.

On-line, however, this assumption is utterly false. Some of us have 
read Wittgenstein, many of us have not. Damned few, I suspect, have 
Michael Chase's intimate knowledge of Greek and Roman classics in their 
original languages. McCreery's references to anthropologists who are 
household names to fellow anthropologists mean nothing to those who 
studied political science or botany, instead of anthropology. It would 
be foolish, indeed, for McCreery to cite Confucius, rattling off 
classical Mandarin tags. We are, in short, a loose network of people 
who severally share a few interests with a handful of others in the 
same network, but lack the common culture to make our citations and 
allusions work in the ways that we hope they will.

What this suggests to me is that, as authors, we have to work a bit 
harder if we want to start and sustain serious discussion. We need to 
invest a bit more effort in describing the alternatives in the field in 
which we advance a thesis. And, when someone stumbles or goes astray, 
we must not say, "Go read X." 　If we believe that X is relevant, we 
should take the time to say why.

I know that when people have taken this trouble, I have learned a great 
deal from both lit-ideas and its phil-lit predecessor. I have more than 
once found myself stimulated to go read X―not because someone has said, 
in effect, "This is your homework and you must be back with the answer 
I want tomorrow morning," but because I found myself persuaded that the 
work in question was, in fact, stimulating and important.

Perhaps if we had a bit less of, "Read this and write a brief critique 
based on whatever prejudices you bring to the table" and a bit more, "I 
think this question is really important and here's why I like the way 
this author answers it," more of us might be seduced into probing more 
deeply.

Just a thought.

John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006

Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx

"Making Symbols is Our Business"

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