on 1/12/02 9:29 AM, Alison Croggon at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> No, that's untrue. My "side" just seems to be deeply unarticulated
> in the daily press, and unrepresented by the ideologies which seem to
> comprise your political world.
This actually demonstrates what's so problematic for me in your stance,
Alison. You seem to believe that people sub to the Brit-Po list to get the
latest news from Australia of what's "really" going on in the US! Sounds
ridiculous to me, but maybe that is indeed what many listees are here for.
Unfortunately, you're always a couple of months behind on the American
"daily press," so if you can't keep up--on a _daily_ basis--you're hardly in
a position to tell us what's "deeply unarticulated" (say what?) in it. Your
Klinghoffer posts had to be strategically free of dates, URLs, and sources
for all those uncited scare quotes typical of the tabloid post.
I've learned a good lesson from this episode, though, after wasting hours
trying to chase down a story that was so "deeply unarticulated" as to have
barely happened at all. All my research was what YOU should have done before
rushing to declare a state of McCarthyism in force for poor John Adams,
whose biggest booster in this country says he's doing quite well as a result
of the bitty bit of publicity the Boston Symphony's all-too-understandable
action last November brought him. (If Mark Swed is being "snide" about a
composer whose career he's been promoting for years, well....)
If you had been seriously concerned about either the effects on the arts of
the sweeping powers granted the FBI after Sept. 11th--a genuinely serious
concern for many American citizens--you would have composed a serious post
with all the usual factual data included or link-accessible. Instead you
threw together what I've called a tabloid post in reaction to Robin's
humorous and peacemaking gesture with his "anti-American" etymology and to
Dave's appeal for amnesty among the nations represented on this list. You
accused me of misrepresenting your intent, but I can't see any other intent
in the kind of post you submitted at that moment apart from keeping the
anti-American flames here stoked. I'm not "hostile" to you, as you've
alleged, but I've lost a lot of respect for you and simply won't respond to
any more irresponsible posts of the "Klinghoffer" ilk.
Those posts didn't serve Adams very well either, in my opinion, any more
than his opera did much to create sympathy for Palestinians. Jeez, what kind
of idiot would choose the Achille Lauro incident as a vehicle for expressing
or arousing Palestinian support?! As a composer of political opera, Adams
makes great music and stupid propaganda--and you haven't done anything here
to make him look smarter, as far as I can see.
Cheers,
Candice
Enough
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