[Reader-list] A Request

[Partha Dasgupta]

Dear Shuddha,

I completely agree and would like to take this opportunity to apologise to
the list, and more specifically to Dhatri for words I used that are
completely unjustfiable.

Rgds, Partha
......................


On 11/13/07, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I unequivocally condemn the CPI(M) led Left Front government's reign of
> terror in West Bengal. I have written about the Nandigram issue on this
> list in the past, (in March this year) and so will not repeat myself on
> this matter.
>
> I also think that the CPI(M)'s paralysing control over cultural and
> intellectual life in West Bengal, and the poverty of its own
> intellectual resources stands nakedly and totally exposed today.
>
> Having said all this, I would request all those on this list who have
> expressed their anger on this issue (which I sympathize with) to not do
> the following.
>
> 1. Post private (off-list) correspondence on to the public forum of the
> list without the consent of the correspondents.
>
> 2. Use personalized invective and abuse in your communications on the list
>
> Those who have done the above may have done so in genuine dismay or
> anger, but it does their cause great damage.I say this in solidarity
> with their feelings, and in criticism of their actions.
>
> We have learnt a great deal in the past few months on this list about
> the need to cultivate a certain degree of restraint in terms of
> language, especially when we are in disagreement.
>
> I look on the turmoil of the past few months on this list positively,
> because they have helped us mature. And in that spirit, I request you
> all to debate and discuss every thing threadbare, but in a manner that
> does not waylay us into discussing the niceties of how people should be
> speaking to each other. That distracts us from the matters that we
> really want to discuss.
>
> So, for instance, if you want to be critical of the CPI(M), by all means
> be so, but if you do so in a manner that provokes others into saying
> that you are being personal in you attack, then we have to spend a lot
> of time and energy in discussing that. Eventually, your critique of the
> CPI(M) gets forgotten, and we end up trying to apportion blame between
> different speech acts, and wasting our time on yet another invocation of
> list protocols.
>
> I hope everyone understands that this is not a call to censorship,
> rather, it is a demand that we all write respnsibly, so that the issues
> that we are all angry about and anguished by can be discussed in all
> seriousness.
>
> It would be a terrible loss if a vibrant list with an evolving critical
> edge were to degenerate into a boxing ring where tired pugilists slug it
> out with each other to the dismay of bored spectators.
>
> Everyone, please, always take a few deep breaths before you hit 'send'.
> Better still, let your mails sit in your drafts folder, read them once a
> few hours later, and then hit 'send'. Believe me, it will make
> everyone's life much better, and we will have more rewarding discussions
> on the list.
>
> regards,
>
> Shuddha
>
>
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-- 
Partha Dasgupta
+919811047132