medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Luke 18:11.
DW
Scott Carson wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> On 17 Feb 2007, at 15:17, Brunner Karl wrote:
>
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>>
>> What ist "geschmacklos" - tasteless ?
>> and "humorlos" - without sense of humour ?
>> in any case: unnecessary
>> very sorry Mr. Carson
>> Sie haben sich daneben benommen.
>> b.k.
>
>
> Mr Karl, you are very kind to admit that you know not whereof you
> speak, but you needn't bother. However, I do accept your apology,
> since it was indeed very tasteless and humorless of you to say such
> things without any justification, and in a public forum, as well.
>
> As is quite clear, I have been perfectly civil in this discussion,
> unlike Mr. Briggs, who, in the absence of any actual arguments in
> favor of his position chose instead to impugn my motives for
> correcting him, going so far as to suggest that I may have an
> inferiority complex. If that strikes you as tasteful and humorous,
> then there is not much I can say in return--such opinions are to be
> pitied rather than argued against. If you have any evidence--any at
> all--that I have been the least bit rude or improper, then I would
> thank you to point it out, rather than merely assume that it's true.
> In the�absence of any such evidence, since you took it upon yourself
> to insult me in public rather than via private email I will expect a
> public apology.� I have done nothing more than point out an error in a
> colleague's argument, and I did it in a polite and professional
> manner. This is what scholars /do/, Mr. Karl, and it is quite clear
> that Mr. Briggs knows this as well, since he does it himself all the
> time. He also knows full well that he can rankle, and he probably
> counts himself fortunate that he did not rankle me; at any rate, his
> complaints so far have consisted of nothing more serious than a
> confession that he did not understand the point I was making.
>
> But if you doubt what I say, just consider this exchange between Mr.
> Briggs and Dr. Postles, from as recently as last August:
>
> Dr. Postles alerted the list to a new journal in these words:
>
>> From: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: new journal
>>
>> [Comment: I'm posting this as a matter of interest to list
>> subscribers. Should you wish to make a recommendation about this
>> journal, the subscription information can be found at:
>> www.english-heritage.org.uk/ehhr
>
>
> Mr. Briggs was unable to find this journal online, whether due to his
> own incompetence or for some other reason I cannot say, but instead of
> merely writing back to Dr. Postles privately asking for clarification,
> he chose to write to the entire list the following:
>
>> It can't, of course.� And neither the search engine on the appalling
>> EH website (remind me to grumble about it to Simon Thurley next time
>> I see him) nor Google has heard of "English Heritage Historical Review".
>
>
> This can be read in a neutral way, of course, and perhaps Mr. Briggs
> actually thought he was being humorous (/de gustibus non disputandum
> est/), but as my own experience here is quickly demonstrating, what
> one person may intend as a neutral comment may not always be
> interpreted by everyone else as a neutral comment. In any event, Dr.
> Postles did not think this a neutral comment, for he responded as follows:
>
>> John Briggs, you must invest a hell of a lot of your time in deciding
>> how to be purposely and effectively offensive.� The URL is correct as
>> it was sent to me by EH.� No doubt, the website is behind schedule in
>> getting the information up.� I removed the subscription form because
>> it is against the etiquette of academic lists to post such details.�
>> On Friday, when I am in Leicester, I can recover the subscription
>> form from the UoL logs and post it off-list to anyone who wishes to
>> receive it.� Please mail me at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> should you wish to receive it.� I am now leaving this list.
>
>
> Perhaps something of an over-reaction, since if Dr. Postles really
> believed that this is typical behavior of Mr. Briggs then he ought not
> to have been so surprised to find him behaving so consistently.
> However that may be, in the interest of fairness I have spent some
> time this morning perusing the archives of the list and I have to say
> that I think Dr. Postles may have been on to something, since Mr.
> Briggs, whether he intends to or not, often presents his views in ways
> that are brusque and rather dismissive of the views of others. In his
> little kerfuffle with Dr. Postles one would imagine that someone with
> good taste and humor, to borrow your own peculiar moral categories,
> would have immediately set about trying to put Dr. Postles at ease.
> Here is what Mr. Briggs said--again, to the whole list:
>
>> Speaking of etiquette, just what *is* the correct way to respond to a
>> personal attack of this kind?
>
>
> I submit to you that this is not the attitude of a person who is at
> pains to avoid having his comments misunderstood.
>
> In the present case the facts are clear and simple. Mr. Briggs made a
> comment that was in error. I corrected his error. Mr. Briggs tried to
> defend his error, and in doing so made another error. I pointed out
> his second error, and charitably suggested a method to help him
> understand the nature of his error. Mr. Briggs interpreted my
> charitable suggestion as a rude comment deriving from some imagined
> secret vendetta that I am supposed to have against him because of some
> putative slur against my intelligence. Mr. Briggs cannot, in good
> conscience, pretend that I have been anything but professional and to
> the point, and I hope that you will follow his example, or if you
> cannot bring yourself to do that, at least confine your ignorant slurs
> against my character to attacks via private email that I can easily
> direct to the trash, where they belong.
>
> Scott Carson
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