Carl Remick writes Wednesday Oct. 14/98: Sorry for my rude rejoinder last night! I do feel that a worthwhile socialist state of some sort *can* be initiated by taking it out of the hide of the wealthy; you, apparently, do not. I am prepared to disagree with you about this without, in the future, being disagreeable. So, my apologies again, and I hope your trip to the West goes well.
Doyle Accepted. I don't mean to be flippant here. I am going to take this appology quite seriously. Obviously Max is the person that ought to have a say about accepting an apology, but I am going to look at the name calling that happened. Carl writes;
Carl So far, so good with my explanation, Max. The e-mail record will show that I have been more on the mark that you have concerning the implications of the current market volatility. And trust me, you're the only moron I abuse. :-)
Carl Remick
Doyle And prior to this Max writes Re Max's: "For someone with your 'explanation' of why capitalism must crumble, I wouldn't push rigor or numeracy too hard. Better to go with moronic abuse."
Doyle If one reads Stephen Jay Gould about the "Mismeasure of Man" the racist views that shaped ideas about intelligence are well documented. The term "moron" was invented at the turn of this century about people who could not learn to read. That was the basic criteria. So it is aimed at mentally disabled persons, though most people would broaden the term to apply to dyslexia I am sure.
Doyle The point is that the word has lost any connection to pseudo-science, and remains in the language as an epithet aimed at a person as an insult with close ties to anti-disabled sentiments. Morons, and idiots. All are about disability. I point at the bigotry that is there, because disability has far less public awareness about the bias aimed at it in everyday thought.
Doyle I am not singling out Carl and Max to cast blame, I'm trying to make clear how these things creep into language unconsciosly. Moron is often used as a "wit" meaning to invoke laughter. A means to lighten up the tone of anger and hurt that underlies the exchanges. Name calling, and I mean the kind that goes beyond neutral feeling attempts to label something perjoratively, are aimed at intense feelings. There is a purpose or strategy, i.e. intense feelings narrow consciousness down. The frontal lobe is shut down as it were to much lower function. The ability to "reason and plan" declines. Name calling that aims at intense feelings is a primitive means of tying up the other into "clumsy" consciousness. It is the opposite of trying to build socialist awareness. I mean that we want the whole working class fully consciously aware in the frontal lobe sense of their rights, their place in the world.
Doyle I get intense feelings. I use intense language to characterize someone, but I try my best, as Carl did to make room this morning, for the other person to move away from intensity, in order that our social ties are strengthened. I much prefer that those times when persons use feelings as communication intensifications be aware of the true social nature of mechanisms. In this case, moron, is a term of anit-disabled abuse. Such name calling is meant to make the "other consciousness" clumsy rather than "able" to reply cleverly and aptly. I believe a sense of democracy must be observed, that means we have the freedom to express ourselves, yet also the ability to examine the content, and learn from self expression. regards, Doyle Saylor