[Reader-list] what is to be done?

[Nishant]

Aarti, I have another suggestion. Perhaps, it will be a good idea to delay the delivery of the messages from the people you have mentioned. A utility can be developed for the software that releases the messages on this list which can allow the moderator to delay the delivery of messages from specified email IDs for a specified period. To begin with the period can be one month. After that the messages are released only to people who have taken the initiative to  mark the specified email IDs acceptable. To the rest of the members of this list the messages can be released after two months. If people want to respond to such messages they can get in the cycle of one or two months and carry on with their debates. The other members can chip in with the topics of their interest in the mean time.

Nishant.

----- Original Message ----
From: Ravi Agarwal <ravig64 at gmail.com>
To: Aarti Sethi <aarti.sethi at gmail.com>
Cc: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Thursday, 24 January, 2008 9:01:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] what is to be done?

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
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 subscribe in the subject header.
To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list 
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