I?m going to respond to Murray?s comment (appended to 11/18/04 message) out here on the main page otherwise I fear we?ll end up like a dog chasing its own tail.
Murray,
Thanks for your comment. By nature I like experimenting and pushing back the frontiers, but I must admit that this blogging venture still feels a bit egotistical. I suppose I?m mostly trying to stem the onset old fogeyism and demonstrate to all and sundry that I?m a man of the 21st century.
Strictly speaking, despite the title, the blog will not be exclusively about Feller, but more how I feel about current events as seen through the filter of my Feller experiences. After all, I do value the past, but I?m trying not to be obsessed with it. Anyway, it?s not really by design that I?ve started by reacting to the public statements of other alumni; but so far that?s what I feel like doing. I?m finding that I kind of like the fact that I can express my personal opinions and not worry about offending anyone. No one has to come here unless they want to, so anyone who doesn?t care for my opinions can choose not to read them. Of course, that?s their loss.
I?m mildly concerned that you would again suggest that I would cut off your access to a discussion here because I might disagree with it (you must be confusing me with other web site czars). I?ve always tried to answer thoughtful comments with the same amount of honesty with which they seemed to be offered. I believe that I only get truly obnoxious when faced with willful ignorance and what I perceive to be intentional deceitfulness.
As to your defense of your response to Todore?s question, I was not suggesting that you shouldn?t jump in if you felt like it, rather I was subtly (obviously a bit too subtly) indicating that your butting in had deflected and diminished the full impact of a rather clever rhetorical question. Anyone who had really been paying attention to the group dynamic for the last 4 years, and likely even those who had only been following the exchanges between Todore and thirdmain for the last 6 months, probably should have realized that it would have been much more fun for the rest of us if you had stayed out of the discussion. Perhaps the time you were offline did not allow you to grasp the true intent of Todore?s comment. Or is it just that I?ve been the target of such a riposte enough times to recognize Mike?s tactics? In any case, no major harm done, and we likely all need to get a life.
As for your exchange with K?bug; I understand the value of blowing off steam; on the other hand, really smug, self-satisfied people, usually don?t ?get? the humour in the most pointed barbs that others aim at them. I guess we all have problems seeing something as funny when it is directed at ourselves; but clearly there exist people who are so filled with self-importance that they really can?t laugh at themselves. You apparently stumbled across one, but in your defense, as we have seen recently, you are in fairly lofty company when it comes to not recognizing that some off-the-cuff ?jokes? may be not so funny.
In any case, it probably wasn?t fair to go after her like a pit bull. Some of us are, with varying degrees of success, able to mount attempts to defend ourselves, but she was so obviously out of her league, your post was sort of like going after a very slow mosquito with sledgehammer.
As you accurately point out, due to past history the above commentary is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but I?m by temperament and profession a teacher, so I can?t help lecturing from time to time. As I said, it?s my site, so you?ll have to deal with it.
A casual reading of the religion section of my website and my more recent comments here on the blog should provide a fairly accurate reading about my opinions on the religious hypocrisy to which we were exposed. It should come as no shock to learn that I largely agree with the rest of the sentiments expressed in your comment.
In Jay Leno's monologue last night there was a joke that should strike a responsive chord. "The Pope recently expressed concern about the declining numbers of priests in the US. But on the bright side, it does show that the American justice system is working."
Posted by Don Ferguson
at 12:53 PM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 1 December 2004 4:05 PM EST
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Updated: Wednesday, 1 December 2004 4:05 PM EST
Post Comment | View Comments (6) | Permalink | Share This Post