Klarinet Archive - Posting 000039.txt from 2000/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Gentlemanly behavior
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 05:18:45 -0400

On Sun, 1 Oct 2000 22:26:36 -0400, gnibbelin@-----.com said:

> Bravo to Kevin Fay, Roger Garrett and Mark Charette for their most
> gentlemanly replies to Mr. Pay including your comments regarding his
> boorish and uncalled for comments. I admire all of you for your
> restraint in putting Mr. Pay quite properly in his place.
>
> In this instance, at least, it appears quite clear on which side of
> the pond the best manners reside.
>
> Mr. Pay, it must be quite an ego builder to constantly talk down to
> all of us "great unwashed and uneducated peasant-throngs".

Good morning, Mr Nibbelin. I trust I find you well -- indeed, given our
time-zone difference, I trust you are soundly asleep at my time of
writing this -- but I'm thinking of you as you read this.

Sometimes I do feel something similar to what you characterise in your
final paragraph; but I live in hope, and there are many counterexamples,
mostly from your side of the pond, I agree. I don't know quite why
there are so few contributors from the UK.

I want to say two things.

The first is my opinion, though it appears to be shared at least to some
degree by your own government. It is that the time will come when we
will look back in astonishment that we almost (I hope) allowed a small
group of people to gain control our computer software development, and
thus, by our own choice, played Russian roulette with our future.

That's not because I impute evil motives to their intentions. It's
because computer software will soon become so complex that anything
short of massive parallel testing and debugging (the scientific ideal)
just won't be up to the job. There are signs of that already.

The 'Russian' bit is appropriate, actually, because the control that
Lysenko exerted over genetic science in Russia is a primitive example of
the same sort of dominance that Micro$oft is attempting now, though
using commonly accepted commercial tactics.

Whether you agree with that or not, to call attention to the possibility
here, in passing, is not boorish or uncalled for. It might be said to
be more important than anything to do with the clarinet. Mr Fay will
have none of it, but that's to be expected, I suppose.

The second is that 'good manners', or 'gentlemanly behaviour', is far
less important than openness and clarity. Mr Leupold, for example,
has just characterised Stockhausen as "a raving nutter" and "completely
bonkers" *behind his back*. Yet if I were to say that about Mr Leupold
to his face, with reasons, you would call me ungentlemanly.

I don't say that about Mr Leupold, or about anyone else for that matter.
I said that Mr Garrett was a silly man, but, well, on that occasion he
was. Mostly what I say about people's opinions is accompanied by
argument, both for and against.

Mr Garrett has recently put his thoughts into an extended essay about
self-awareness. He can be assured that I read it with care and
attention, and will apply it to my own actions where necessary.

I hope the same is true of him. And others.

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

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