Dear all,

One of the nicer products of the US, Todd Rundgren, sang 'Can we still be friends'. And, as for Jon's original post, I recall someone (can't remember who) rightly exclaiming amazement at what he called Obama's 'Peace through war' strategy - sums it all up for me. Grim.

Best,

Ian 


-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Mike Goodman
Sent: Fri 7/20/2012 17:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Uses of CRIT-GEOG-FORUM and potential for others
 
To be honest with you, the only reason I keep this forum squirting 
emails into my inbox is FOR the whinging, the complaining, the sarcasm 
and the verbal battles and flaming that has seemed to ramp up a notch 
over the last couple of months; it makes for some serious entertainment 
during boring slogs through the inbox. It is either that or I just like 
keeping tabs on the number of times Jon (I truly feel I am closer to him 
than many of my colleagues these days) has to send an all-list email 
apology for some sort of outburst or sarcastic comments. We seem to be 
approaching something like the theatre of the absurd, in a very critical 
geog sort of way, but it is so entertaining I can't look away.

flame away people (to me personally if you wish), but if we can, can we 
not keep the CFPs, announcements, etc on the same list? Can't we keep 
all this going on one list and not open it up to two? I enjoy 
multitasking, really I do. And, sheesh, as a famous person said oh so 
long ago, 'can't we all just get along'? Or at least have some 
interesting discussion intermixed with interesting CFPs and announcements?

Cheers,

Mike

On 20/07/2012 17:32, Paul H. wrote:
> Excellent suggestions Sam. Thank you. Paul
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:26:54 +0100
> > From: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Uses of CRIT-GEOG-FORUM and potential for others
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I share many of the sentiments expressed in Prof. Hannah's email.
> >
> > However, while there are undoubtedly some very useful discussions on
> > this list I think it may be reasonable to assume that one of the
> > principal reasons there are quite so many 'lurkers' is because the
> > Crit-Geog-Forum has become the de-facto announcements list.
> >
> > What I would tentatively suggest is something I have heard mooted
> > 'offline' a few times at several past RGS-IBG conferences: the 
> community
> > should consider setting up a human geography announcements list.
> >
> > I am sure that many of us would remain subscribers of Crit Geog Forum
> > for those reasons outlined by others that have responded but such a
> > (new) list would perhaps open the possiblity of more discussion on this
> > list by moving the announcements to an alternative venue.
> >
> > I offer this only as a suggestion and I can understand many reasons 
> that
> > fellow subscribers might have for disagreeing. Nevertheless, it could
> > perhaps offer the opportunity to renew this list as a site for (more)
> > discussion of critical geography.
> >
> > With good wishes,
> > Sam Kinsley
> >
> > On 20/07/2012 13:33, Matthew Hannah [mch] wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > Like most people on the forum, I end up deleting the majority of 
> entries
> > > without reading them carefully. Few of us are going to be 
> interested in
> > > the entire range of themes offered up for consideration. There is
> > > certainly some acrimonious debate, but I don't find it to be 
> dominant in
> > > the open discussions of the forum itself. As Andrew Law notes, there
> > > may be more nastiness behind the scenes for those who venture a
> > > contestable comment, which isn't a good thing. But, as in the present
> > > case, the acrimony itself usually gets thematised shortly after it
> > > appears publicly.
> > >
> > > My main reason for subscribing is to keep tabs on this 'semi-public'
> > > level of geographical debate so that I can suggest particular 
> strands of
> > > discussion to undergraduates looking for an essay topic. Most of my
> > > students who have chosen to look at a CRIT-GEOG discussion have 
> gotten a
> > > lot out of the demonstration that professional geographers are also
> > > people for whom particular issues or events elicit personal anger,
> > > dismay, empathy or other emotions. To their credit, they usually don't
> > > conclude that geographical debate is therefore completely irrational.
> > > But it does help them to see how reason and various non-rational
> > > motivations intertwine and inform each other.
> > >
> > > Given how thoroughly (especially British) undergraduates are 
> instructed
> > > these days in the centrality of affect and emotion to human social 
> life,
> > > and in the role of (ant-)agonism in 'the political', we shouldn't 
> be at
> > > all uneasy about revealing these dimensions of our own 'shop talk'. If
> > > the overall benefit of following the forum doesn't outweigh the
> > > irritation, we are always welcome to follow Phil in un-subscribing.
> > >
> > > Matt Hannah




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