From: Bill Chapman (billc@sarc.msstate.edu)
Date: Fri Jul 11 1997 - 12:25:57 EDT
Dear Carl:
Long time no communicate! Since you brought it up, let me clarify
that I did not really misunderstand Wes' comment about you, but
wanted to indirectly address another individual (who seemed more
thin-skinned than Wes) by reflecting off Wes' post, the ambiguity of
language and the different readings there are for many of our posts.
I think the person who said he had been zapped off-line and appeared
to have been offended by the admonition was a Powell of DTS. It was
he that was the real target of my post, but Wes' remarks gave me a
virtual target. The problem with thin-skinned people is that one
cannot directly address them without hurting their feelings and
putting them into their defensive mode (which is often an attacking
position).
Since direct address has often failed me in that situation, I used
the indirection of replying to Wes' post publicly (though if Wes
needed an admonition, I would have addressed him privately, since
his other communications indicate he can take it), hoping the other
person would see himself and apply the message to himself (but what
is the probability of that happening?). I followed the rule that it
is better to attempt an improbable than an impossible!
My off-line response to Wes is included below. We have not "broken
fellowship" over the incident. ;)
Thanks for showing concern,
--Bill
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: Self <ARCHITECTURE/BILLC>
To: "Williams, Wes" <Wes.Williams@echostar.com>
Subject: RE: EIMI and Time (for the second year)
Reply-to: billc@sarc.msstate.edu
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 14:13:10 GMT+6
> I take
> it you are new to b-greek Bill? If so, welcome. If not, thank you
> for your welcome reminder.
Dear Wes:
As the excerpt below may indicate, I am a long-time member of
b-greek.
> > In all my dealings with Carl, he may have
However, my reference to "all my dealings" may not mean that "there
were lots of them over many years" to you, as it did to me and others
who may remember me from a more prolific period of postings.
It is exactly that ambiguity of language, also contained in the
word, "zap," that lured me out of lurker status to respond, not
really to you, but to some others who had recently posted about
their feelings' being hurt--or so it seemed to me. (Maybe zap is more
neutral than negative, but it seems negative to me.)
I know you were quoting the real originator of the word, and that is
what gave me the impetus to write. I could appear to be criticizing
you, but actually be criticizing the thin-skinned one who first used
the term.
Sneaky, huh?
Thanks,
Bill
-- Bill Chapman <billc@sarc.msstate.edu> http://www2.msstate.edu/~wcc1 Systems Administrator Tel: (601) 325-2042 School of Architecture http://www.sarc.msstate.edu Mississippi State University Fax: (601) 325-8872 -- Check out our graduate program in Computer Graphics / Visualization: http://www.sarc.msstate.edu/grad_web/menu.html
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