Klarinet Archive - Posting 000647.txt from 1997/05

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Delete or Sign Off - an editorial
Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 05:45:23 -0400

On Klarinet, we are at liberty to express any and all thoughts, opinions,
questions, and otherwise, knowing that the only factor which delimits the
material of a given transmission is that it pertain to the primary subject
of the list. Occasionally, we even get off-subject, but those situations
are not often egregious, and they usually fade away within a couple of weeks
or less.

Lately, a small handful of the 600+ international member list have taken
it upon themselves to make some strong suggestions, prescriptive statements
concerning the material which other members of the list choose to send
to the forum. In the 4+ years that I've been a member of the Klarinet
community, these recent manifestations of intolerance and elitism are
the first persistent occurrence of such restrictive viewpoints. The
reason the word "persistent" is inserted is that all past occurrences
over the years were effectively stifled and stamped out by the vocal
majority.

On Klarinet, holier-than-thou attitudes have never been welcomed, precisely
because they discourage the most important element of discourse: questions
and answers. Not questions and answers which meet a particular standard
of scholarship or other set of predefined criteria. Not questions which
lend themselves nicely to easily defined factual and/or scientific answers.
But questions, answers, statements, opinions, announcements, and declarations
of all kinds, regardless of wording or epistemological value. Nobody is
exempt from ignorance of one kind or another, and nobody is preordained to
sit on an intellectual high-horse. The entire list, every single member,
falls into the middle ground of relative knowledge and experience because,
simply put, nobody knows it all -- not even the seasoned professional
performers and educators. I would almost go so far as to say that the
information put forth by these experts is much more often in conflict
with other "expert" opinions than the comparative posts from amateurs,
precisely because the greater sophistication is prone to less concrete
argumentation. Why? Because the answers at the higher levels are not
ironclad and there's always a different way of perceiving and/or achieving
something. The fact that an amateur's question appears to have a self-
evident answer, or an easily attained reference beyond the list, does not
make it less valid or worthy of transmission to the general Klarinet
population.

The point? Ultimately, there is no governing force on Klarinet which
has the power to dictate the manner of discourse and exchange which
occurs each day. The fact that the discussions stay so closely on
topic -- i.e.; they pertain to the subject of clarinet performance,
pedagogy, or scholarship -- is a minor miracle given the manner of
rife disruption and discourteous bantering which takes place on other
unmoderated email forums. What we have here on Klarinet is quite good.
In fact, except for the occasional off-topic threads which spring up,
there isn't anything bad going on here at all.

If there are members who are incapable of restraining themselves from
high-nosed criticism because, in their estimation, an arbitrary level
of scholarship or comprehension is not being sustained, then we need
repeatedly to cite the bottom line. In precisely the same fashion that
everybody is publicly free to join the list without restriction, those
who choose to do so are equally free to leave. Nothing anybody sends
to the forum is subject to any authority beyond self-regulation and
common sense. If you don't like what you see, you have two options.
You can delete those messages which displease you, or you can sign
off from the list altogether. Censorship of others' contributions
is not within your power, and attempts to do so undermine the open
and supportive spirit which has characterized our community over
the years past. Let's not do that. For those of you who remain
silent out of fear that what you have to say will come under attack
due to a lack of advancement, lay that fear to rest. Clarinet-related
transmissions are as welcome from you as they are from any other member
of the list. If somebody flames you, delete their post without a response.
The intolerant ones reveal subjective ignorance by shunning the objective
kind in others.

Neil