[Reader-list] what is to be done?

[radhikarajen at vsnl.net]

Hi, 

    GOOD THOUGHTS INDEED.

Regards.

----- Original Message -----
From: Parvinder Singh <parvinderster at gmail.com>
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2008 10:07 am
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] what is to be done?
To: reader-list at sarai.net

> Dear all,
> 
> Moderation, not necessarily as a means of  control but as a 
> facilitator, is
> surely needed for this list. In the past few months one has seen 
> severalmails and exchanges that are reflective of discussion being 
> taken over by a
> single issue and mostly from a very narrowed down perspective as 
> it gets
> restricted to a few protagonists.
> 
> The issue is not about filtering wrong or right, but mostly about
> facilitation.
> 
> Maybe through an announcement of a debate question for the 
> members, which is
> time bound, and then moving on to another or even staying with 
> same till
> such time as the members can sustain interest.
> 
> This is not to say that an issue can ever get exhausted but to 
> stress that
> after a stage polemics belongs to research rooms and archives and 
> not the
> list serve of the kind we have been using here.
> 
> Warm regards
> Parvinder
> 
> On Jan 24, 2008 9:01 AM, Ravi Agarwal <ravig64 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hi Aarti
> >
> > Many thanks for your mail. I think that we need to talk about many
> > other things which people like me on the reader list are interested
> > in. I am sure the discussion about the communal nature of our nation
> > state is a very important one, but this is as important as are other
> > key issues confronting us today, like issues of poverty, 
> environment,> changing urban landscapes, the discussions on the 
> arts,  and impacts
> > of new globalisations etc, from my perspective for example, and 
> there> could be many others.
> >
> > I feel that if one discussion becomes very dominant, then others 
> feel> cowed down and do not post. Maybe the moderator can do this, 
> trigger> of discussions other than this as well. What do you think?
> >
> > Or I may be wrong and then most on the reader list are only 
> interested> in one topic, in which case I rest my case, since it 
> is based on past
> > experience with the list and the variety of topics it held.
> >
> > best and good luck
> > ravi agarwal
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 22, 2008, at 12:54 PM, Aarti Sethi wrote:
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > It is becoming more and more difficult to read the writing on the
> > reader-list. From misogyny, the likes of which I do not recall ever
> > seeing
> > before, to threats of physical violence against women's bodies, to
> > right-wing Hindu vitriol, what is going on? It is actually now 
> painful> to
> > have to see 37 responses on a thread which deserves not even one,
> > because
> > people are valiantly trying to talk rationally, reason with, 
> respond to
> > people who should just be told to shut up. I know its very hard 
> to keep
> > quite and let things go, especially when we have exemplars like
> > chanchal and
> > vedavati on this list. But we are all just getting fatigued now with
> > this
> > relentless barrage of invective and hate that the list is constantly
> > subjected to.
> >
> > So now I am asking for solutions. What is to be done?, as Lenin 
> asked> many
> > years ago. What is to be done to save the reader-list? Can we 
> have a
> > discussion on this? Clearly responding to them in any rational 
> fashion> is
> > not a solution. And I frankly have no interest or hope that anything
> > any of
> > us can say will make any difference. This is not about me 
> refusing to
> > have a
> > conversation, because the fact is, they do not want to have a
> > conversation
> > at all. And i think that is quite clear from the writing on the list
> > in the
> > past two weeks.
> >
> > This is a request to to please stop engaging with them. Lets ignore
> > them,
> > lets not respond to them, lets please just mark all their mails so
> > they go
> > into our collective trash folders, lets talk about other things,
> > anything.
> > They can then keep talking to each other about the wonderful Hindu
> > nation
> > they will build ad nauseum. But we dont have to listen to this. 
> And of
> > course they will claim this as a victory etc etc. How we cant 
> respond to
> > them, how we have nothing to say to their brilliant 
> argumentation. I can
> > already predict the responses to this mail. But I have no 
> trouble saying
> > that they are right. I am limited by my own linguistic 
> incapacity to
> > respond
> > to writing which is so poisonous.
> >
> > And a final qualification about my use of "us" and "them" and any
> > questions
> > regarding othering, insularity, assumption of moral superiority etc
> > etc. I
> > can unabashedly say that I have absolutely no problems creating this
> > binary
> > divide. I have no issues saying that these are people I want to have
> > nothing
> > to do with, as far as I am concerned they are unethical and violent
> > and I
> > dont see why they should have any purchase on my time at all. There
> > are far
> > more interesting things being said and there are interesting people
> > saying
> > them who I would much rather read, than the reams and reams of 
> boring> hateful drivel that constantly issue from the likes of 
> chanchal..>
> > If anyone else has any other ideas please lets hear them. And if
> > anyone has
> > forgotten how to make filters so you can trash the trash, here 
> is a
> > link to
> > Vivek's very instructive mail on the matter:
> > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2007-
> November/011005.html>
> > best
> > Aarti
> > _________________________________________
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> >
> > _________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> > subscribe in the subject header.
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Parvinder Singh
> "The moment you resolve to be victorious, every nerve and fiber in 
> yourbeing will immediately orient itself toward your success."
> 
> Daisaku Ikeda
> _________________________________________
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> Critiques & Collaborations
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