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From: barry@borealis.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Abuses of the net
Message-ID: <1762@borealis.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 29-Nov-86 11:58:53 EST
Article-I.D.: borealis.1762
Posted: Sat Nov 29 11:58:53 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 1-Dec-86 21:26:18 EST
References: <225@mind.UUCP> <378@cartan.Berkeley.EDU> <226@mind.UUCP>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 41
Summary: scatology, style, satire, art


	I saved the following article for reply intending one
kind of response, but, after catching up on everyone else's
responses, I think my first reactions are redundant. I'll try for
new thoughts, instead.
 
>In article <378@cartan.Berkeley.EDU>, weemba@brahms (Wimpy Math Grad Student) writes:
>> his "shit-for-brains" seemed entirely
>> uncalled for, but the rest of his comments seemed fairly routine fare...

	I found and read the original article - I agree with Matthew.
	
From: harnad@mind.UUCP (Stevan Harnad):
>is the rude style also
>to be a hallmark of the experienced net user, along with its apparent
>sympathy for pathological abusiveness? I suspect that the glib
>scatologs and scatologophiles are going to be more vocal in their
>views on this, so the sample of responses will be a biased one.

	Nothing like a little insurance if the vox populi doesn't
see it your way, eh? :-)
	I've been reading Michael Ellis's articles a long time. I
want to echo what another poster (oops, forgot who) said, in
spades. There is a conscious attempt at art in Ellis's style. The
other poster actually doubted it was really conscious, though he
saw the value in any case. I have no such doubt. Ellis is a
highly non-categorical thinker, and makes no bones about using
the widest variety of possible techniques to make his points. You
may not always like the results - I certainly don't. But, as with
that other nefarious net.criminal, John Williams (hi, John!),
when it works you get value of a kind that drier discourse can't
duplicate.
	I don't even need to cite modern classics to defend Ellis's
approach. You want scatology? You want abusive personal attacks?
Read your Aristophanes.

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
*** NOTE NEW ADDRESS ***                        Moffett Field, CA
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