ANONOWITZ | 2006-04-21
LibAnon is defending the three people I just corrected:
'Mark and Shari are asking questions, Bob. They're trying to understand you, which is a compliment. They're not playing "gotcha"."
"If everybody reading this blog is supposed to understand what you say instantly, even when the topic concerns Zoroastrianism and the ascetic ideal, then what's the point of a comments section? Just pontificate away and enjoy the silent worship of the uncomprehending and the silent departures of the confused."
MY REPLY:
Sigh!
Her we go again.
I SAID I wanted questions. I have urged you to hit me with questions. I treasure corrections.
But I am asking that corrections not be the only point.
Is this really so much to ask?
You could not possibly imagine I would be concerned about "Gotcha!"
Apparently you have not seen the effort I have gone to to make it clear that I welcome that.
Neither Mark nor Shari nor Elizabeth is trying to make points on me. You should give me credit for knowing that.
But the piece I wrote dealt specifically with my request that people ALSO deal with the general point I made.
I have made statements that were just plain wrong factually, and every time you corrected me on them I was grateful.
Now I am adding something I would like to see.
We are interested in simple truth here. So corrections come in two forms:
1) Corrections where I said something so wrong that it invalidates the whole point I was making. You should make it brutally clear whan that is the case, and
2) Valid corrections that do not destroy the point I was making.
There is a difference here.
In case 1), I want you to make it clear that Ole Bob is just plain wrong.
In case 2, I would like some indication that you have absorbed the general valid point I made, which is the whole point of Bob's Blog.
Comments are always welcome. Corrections are always welcome.
But I have right to have feelings too.
It is normal human characteristic that if I make a point I think is important, I would like you to give it some thought. I would like it to make you think of something that shows you have absorbed my point and have gone on from there.
This is not exactly an insult.
I am trying to get you to think the only way I know how.
I am saying you can do better than you are doing.
Every college seminar I have ever been in aims at making intellectual clones.
I want you to make my thinking out of date.
It would take a lot of work to twist THAT into an insult.
It is a compliment to me if Shari and Mark and Elizabeth get some what upset that I disapproved of the their limited replies. But it is not a compliment that I want. It puts you into the position of being intimidated by me, which happens to be the dream of every professor except Bob.
I know you respect me. You read and think about my stuff voluntarily, not to get a degree and a job.
That's all the respect I need. That's all the "intimidation," or respect, that I need.
Now let's get back to purpose of this seminar.