----- Original Message -----
From: "Dominic Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 12:42 PM
Subject: Re: Old List/New List
>> Some would say
>> that the centre/margin concept is old hat and everything is now equal
>> within a pluralist meshwork
>
> I would say that the centre/margin concept is of limited
> applicability, and that everything is and has always been *unequal*
> within a pluralist meshwork (with great gaping discontinuous holes in
> it). I don't get why people think postmodernism means general
> equivalence; it doesn't, it indicates the lack of a common ratio, a
> universally agreed basis for comparison. Are apples equal to oranges?
>
> It is useful to recognise that there are centralising forces, and that
> marginalisation happens. But the overall topography (given that these
> are topographical metaphors; and given that metaphors is *all* they
> are) is not defined by these contingencies, and never was.
>
> It's interesting that people are now talking about weblog traffic
> obeying a "power law" - which gives rise to a sort of spontaneous
> hierarchy. Nothing succeeds like success.
>
> Dominic
>
I dont know if it is relevant but I subscribe to over 60 newsgroups and do a
header scan every morning reading very few threads. A group can be good for
years then disintegrate (such as rec.arts.books) and there is nowhere I am
at home at the moment although I have my interests. A list is much more
sociable as a rule because the number of communicants falls within a
manageable proportion. It doesnt happen often in newsgroups although there
are some.
Well I am halfway thru Baron-Cohen, which is a very good book at 4 pounds
from Amazon, and resting now with my Planxty DVD. I am developing ideas
about poetry/theatrical connections and his ideas. Where women should be
superior it seems.
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