Klarinet Archive - Posting 000235.txt from 1998/12

From: "MARY A. VINQUIST" <kenshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] War of the Words
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 02:05:36 -0500

Lelia Loban wrote, a propos of Roger Garrett's leaving the list:

>I was afraid this had happened, since someone called him "an idiot," =

>others more or less said they didn't want Roger around here any more....=

>I haven't subscribed to the list long enough to be aware of the whole =

>history of whatever happened between Roger and other subscribers....

As Leila supposes, it's more complicated than that. I've been reading
the Klarinet list for nearly 3 years, and I have seen Roger in good form
and bad.

The problem is inherent in the nature of e-mail. You have the entire
message in front of you, in editable format, and the temptation is nearly=

overwhelming to clip and reprint one sentence or paragraph at a time =

and respond to it. This legalistic method (and I'm a lawyer) is good for=

deep philosophical argument between two people, but it may be the =

worst way to carry on a discussion in a public forum. It quickly =

degenerates into rebuttal, sur-rebuttal, sur-sur-rebuttal and on and on.

Unfortunately, Roger, and some others on the list (e.g., Jonathan Cohler)=

have traded shots back and forth for weeks on end, each accusing the =

other of not having understood (or having deliberately misunderstood)
what was said a dozen generations back.

This is made worse by the fact that e-mail is not done face to face, whic=
h
leads to ever louder shouting and anger. And this, in turn, is probably
made worse because Roger and Jonathan are important teachers and
players, and each is a big frog in his little pond. Roger has a universi=
ty
position and has the final word there, and Jonathan is teaching and =

playing in situations where he is the central personality. Each of them
has earned his position, each has territory to defend, and neither is =

inclined, by personality or experience, to take lightly any indication =

of criticism or disrespect.

I think I'm not the only one to have gotten thoroughly annoyed by this =

style of debate, particularly because each exchange usually includes =

all earlier exchanges, resulting in ever longer messages containing old
material quoted half a dozen layers deep. I get the list in digest form,=
=

so I can't just hit "delete" but have to wade through the mess.

Finally, it was not just anyone who made the "idiot" remark. It was Mark=

Charette, who runs the Sneezy board and is more familiar than anybody
with these shenanigans. If anyone has earned the right to say what he
thinks, it's Mark. I agree with him 100%. Roger is an important
teacher and personality, and we need him on the Klarinet board, but
he gets too annoyed, and too annoying, too often, to be simply given free=

rein. If he wants to go off and sulk in his tent, so be it. I think he'=
ll
be
back, and I'll be glad to read what he has to say.

This board is a great place to try out new ideas and discuss them with
people who have strong opinions and something intelligent to say. Roger,=

Jonathan, Tony Pay, Dan Leeson, Ed Lacy, Clark Fobes and many other
important teachers and personalities make this a world-class resource,
and the community of clarinetists is lucky to have it available.

Roger has earned some elbow room, and nobody begrudges him the
right to express his opinions. I think, though, that he has pushed the
limits, more than once, and has been a bit of a bully. Mark had good
reason to be annoyed, and good reason to say so.

Come back Roger. All is forgiven. We will roast the fatted calf, God wi=
ll
supply the RAM, and we'll all have rice pudding for dessert.

Ken Shaw

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