(urth) Dan'l! (was: Re: It's getting hard...)

[Jane Delawney]

On 05/01/11 17:44, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> ...for me to tell who's looking for truth and who's just trying to win.
>
> If you're just trying to win (and note that this is addressed to
> nobody in particular), please shut up.
>
>    
Have had to shut up for a week or so for reasons unconnected to the 
list, but have to say Dan'l, I have some sympathy with your frustration. 
This isn't a competition ... is it? if it *is*, I think  potential 
listmembers need some kind of heads up before they join :) All I ever 
wanted to do here was to bounce ideas off other Sun-cycle mavens. Some 
of the 'tudes I've seen, whether in discussion I've participated in, or 
in catching-up time (of which I have a great deal to do most times given 
personal cirx) suggest some on here do actually regard this listserv as 
a competition. One or two even seem to think that there is some ultimate 
religious truth in question here.

How anyone can think they are 'right' when discussing the literary work 
of a writer who does not choose to participate himself in these 
discussions is completely beyond me. GW is over eighty and so successful 
as a writer that he doesn't need any of this stuff; he's definitely not 
going to tell us word for word what is what. Given that - and I don't 
think that's a stretch - what any of us think is as likely to be 
plausible / interesting as what any other thinks. And regarding the 
'religion' aspect, it's plain to me that some have forgotten that what 
we are discussing here is a work, or works, of fiction; not a set of 
texts competing, as at the Council of Nicea, for canonical status.

jd