I agree

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

>I also agree with Dominic, Alex, and Enrica. Get the riff-raff
>out of this place. Unfortunately, I am one of those
>'hanger-on', 'curious', 'just looking', kind of people. I hate
>to leave. My reasoning is simple. We in India used to have a
>practice called "Pravacchan" or "Satsang" where knowledgeable
>'Gurus', 'Shastries', 'Pundits', and 'Commentators' used to
>have marathon discussions on the topics of their interests. Us
>nobodies or 'Forrest Gumps' were allowed to attend these
>'hi-falutin' shindigs, provided we did not disrupt their
>discourses in any way. They needed us badly. Otherwise their
>erudite interpretations of subject matter under discussion
>would be like a sound of a falling leaf in the forest-did it
>make a sound or not? My humble request to you learned
>academicians, therefore, is suffer occasional noise, little
>commotion, exceptional outburst inappropriately expressed, and
>go on with your 'Satsang'. Frankly, after Republicans got into
>the Congress us intellectuals and liberals have no place to go.
>Sid Harth
>
May I politely suggest that Sid Harth has a point? It may be difficult to
strike a proper balance between a strictly academic debate between
specialists on the one hand, and an all-out
got-my-finger-in-your-eye-you-idiot kind of political debate, but a certain
liberalism may not be out of the way. If we were to freeze out everybody
who simply enjoys listening in and ask the occasional question, I feel we
would do ourselves and all that "riff-raff" out there in cyberspace a
disservice. If somebody gets way out of line, a few firm emails usually
does the trick. In extreme cases, they can be removed from the list.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no