[Reader-list] flooding my mailbox
Asthana, Rahul
Rahul.Asthana at CIBC.com
Sat Jun 19 02:42:00 IST 2004
Shuddha,
You write-
"I do think that a culture
of vigorous discussion on this list needs a revival."
So you mean there was this culture here?I never seem to have seen much of it
since I joined.
If there was a culture and it has died,we need to look into why that
happenned.Cultures dont die without any reason.
And IMHO, in case of disemmination of information, errors of omission are
far more potent than errors of commission.
Further,you write-
"We, at Sarai, are exploring the possibility of inviting individuals to
'shape' the
discussion on the list so that threads get nurtured, arguments taken
further, and new ideas and energies are made available to the list from
time to time."
This is a very good idea, with great potential.I suggest someone can draft a
formal takeaway from the discussion whenever each thread reaches a
saturation point.There would be, perhaps a little bit of additional argument
on the final takeaway, and then it could be archived separately on the sarai
site for easy reading.
Thanks
Rahul
-----Original Message-----
From: Shuddha [mailto:shuddha at sarai.net]
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 11:48 AM
To: shivam
Cc: reader-list at sarai.net
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] flooding my mailbox
Dear Shivam, (and others)
The Reader List is an un-moderated list. It does have an administrator,
but she does not act as a censor. As she is away at the moment and not
able to check mail regularly, I am taking the liberty of responding to
Shivam, just as one list member to anothe, on the questions that he has
raised.
As we have no 'moderator' no one is technically in a position to tell
anyone else to discuss something, or anything, privately. People can
discuss something privately if they so desire, but, if it is a
discussion that has been sparked off by postings on the list, and is not
of a 'personal' nature, I do not see any justification in demanding that
such discussions to be sequestered from the general discussion on the list.
However, I do think that Shivam's point about having his private mails
to another list member being forwarded on to the list is something that
merits consideration. I would say that forwarding mail that you have
recieved 'privately' to the general list, without the consent of the
concerned correspondent is poor nettiquette. Having said that, I do
think that it would be unfortunate if the most interesting discussions
on this list happened on 'private' channels. I do think that a culture
of vigourous discussion on this list needs a revival. We, at Sarai, are
exploring the possibility of inviting individuals to 'shape' the
discussion on the list so that threads get nurtured, arguments taken
further, and new ideas and energies are made available to the list from
time to time. I can assure you and all other list members that this will
not mean r 'moderation' rather it will represent an attempt at evolving
a model of 'custodianship' or 'curation' of the discussions on the list.
It will definitely not be an attempt to censor and block postings by
members.
I have followed with interest the debate that has been sparked off by
the posting about 'Girlfriend'. I can see several strands of discussion
emerging, one is about the film itself and what it has come to
represent, as an object of anxiety both for the self appointed guardians
of morality, and for some vocal representatives of the Gay and Lesbian
rights movement in India, the other is of exploring what recognizing or
acknowledging homosexuality is, the third is of understanding what Child
Sexual Abuse is all about. Interestingly, I think that the material of
the film 'Girlfriend' actually enables a discussion on each of these
issues. In other words, - do lesbians really exist, if they do, should
they be visible and should they make themselves visible, and finally
does homosexuality have anything to do with a loss of agency in
childhood due to abuse. I am not venturing an opinion at the moment on
any of these issues, merely flagging the fact that the three seemingly
divergent threads of conversation between Shivam, Nitin, Rahul, Shveta,
Sappho (the forwards sent by them) actually all have traces of these
three elements.
I would like to make a case for seeing the film as a normal, perhaps
b-grade, Hindi film, which happens to have a lesbian as a character of
some importance. I will make a longer posting on the issue, (once I have
thought through some of the issues at some length, and am less
encumbered)but I do think that the fact that a simple, not very well
made, borderline b grade Hindi film has generated this much discussion
(and I would argue, not simply because it happens to have a lesbian
character or theme) is not insignificant. At least it is not the stupor
that normally overcomes me as i come out of the cinema. Perhaps there
are a few things that we can thank 'Girlfriend' for, like making the
culture of discussion on this list fine new voices, registers and things
to say.
So, lets keep talking
cheers
Shuddha
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