3.905 the silence of English, cont. (37)

Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Fri, 5 Jan 90 20:39:59 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 905. Friday, 5 Jan 1990.

Date: Fri, 5 Jan 90 09:03:57 EST
From: David.A.Bantz@mac.dartmouth.edu
Subject: Re: 3.901 the silence of English (96)

The comments quoted, in response to a thoughtful piece on the inactivity
of the English distribution list, are among the most intemperate,
unwarranted and intolerant I have seen for a long time. Apologies due
to the original poster.

--- In Humanist 3.901 was written:
...the coda to [a recent Humanist] contribution demands
blame....suggesting that certain views are to be excluded from
discussion, that electronic lists are little more than new vehicles for
the leftward-leaning politicos of the academy. [The views attributed to
the author are]...self-serving nonsese ...power-brokering, priestcraft,
and elitism of the self-styled de-marginalizers....[The author] assumes
that everyone in the academic world is stuck in the 1960s, still
rebelling against authority and attacking the establishment....[which
is] the preservation of the ideological status-quo....[The target of
these remarks (and, presumably, the rest of Humanist] should learn to
respect marginalized writers, like Bloom and Hirsch, if he wants to
affirm the value of a liberal education.
--- end of quoted material ---

Best-selling authors Bloom and Hirsch, despite wide adulation and
featured stories in the media for 'the most important book of the year,'
etc., etc. and despite their staunch support of traditional and
explicitly elitist education are "marginal"? Whatever can the word mean?