Klarinet Archive - Posting 001020.txt from 1999/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: RE: [kl] re: playing the Clarinet from behind the student
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 17:18:06 -0500

On Sun, 31 Oct 1999 20:49:13 GMT, Tony@-----.uk said:

> On Sun, 31 Oct 1999 10:43:11 -0800, kevinfay@-----.com said:
>
> > Bill Hausmann opined re sexual harassment in schools:
> >
> > <<<The problem is not the law, it's the LAWYERS!>>>
> >
> > Golly, this is a bit wrongheaded. (Not just because I'm a lawyer--I'm
> > not THAT kind of lawyer.) We lawyers are quite used to getting
> > bashed; the primary reason, as it turns out, is that if you have a
> > social problem, people end up calling us. In droves.
>
> You've said that before.
>
> > No, I'm afraid that the problem in the psycho-sexual area is a bunch of
> > teachers that can't seem to keep their clothes on.
>
> These people have always been there, as a proportion of the population.
> It's how we deal with it that's the problem.
>
> And the problem is one of generalisation. Just because some people who
> 'touch other people' are perceived as 'damaging', *all* people who
> 'touch other people' are perceived as 'potentially damaging'.
>
> The lawyers exacerbate that, because, due to their efforts, the class
> 'damaging' is smaller than the class 'plausibly indictable as damaging'.
>
> So you can't claim innocence, lawyers.

I realise that I didn't say this as clearly as I wanted, and that it's
a much more general issue.

If there is a complex situation, then what you want is more careful
investigation, and more openness and understanding. Because we now
understand that injustices need to be rooted out, *and* that innocence
needs to be protected, things are no longer so simple as they once were.

What you *don't* want is rhetoric and propaganda: the approach of the
closed, litigous attorney and the blazoning media.

It's not that the legal profession is blameworthy. It's that the idea
of litigousness is dominant in our society, and that's
counterproductive. We all need to work against that.

The *complexity* of the situation drives us towards the investigative
attitude. Our society is becoming more complex. We need to support the
scientific ideal -- the idea that we may always be wrong when things are
complex.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

The Halloween Papers: http://www.opensource.org/halloween/

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