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August 2002, Week 3

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From:
Mark Langer <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Mon, 19 Aug 2002 09:21:57 -0400
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louis schwartz wrote:

> While I laughed at the piece Jeremy Butler posted when I read it in the
> Onion, I wonder why he chose to post it in the forum.

> I thought this list was meant to be an open forum for people in the
> field. Such a post from the list's administrator suggests that this is
> not quite the case. How can this be an open forum when the people
> running the list show open contempt for some of the members by
> subjecting them to mockery rather than engaging with them
> intellectually?

Oh, for heaven's sake Louis, lighten up.  The post does not subject
theorists to mockery, but simply derives humour by an exaggeration of
theoretical practice.  Nobody in their right mind would believe, as a
consequence of encountering this on SCREEN-L,  that you have to go and live
in your parents' basement until you stop deconstructing take-out menus.
This posting has been passed around by many academics at my university, and
some of the most enthusiastic posters are those who have a deep commitment
to theory.  I find it odd that you can derive pleasure from this text when
you encounter it in The Onion, but are disturbed that others on this list
who don't read The Onion might enjoy the humour by encountering it on
SCREEN-L.  If this is an open forum, it is an open forum for everyone, not
just for the thin-skinned.

Thanks, Jeremy, for posting this, and please forward anything humourous
that relates to our discipline to the list -- even if it relates to
historicism and cultural studies.


Mark

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