Re: Causality

Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Tue, 10 Dec 1996 14:57:49 -0800


Lyle Burkhead, champion of Discord, wrote:
>How about some examples of this? Far from being a common and
>general phenomenon, I don't think it happens at all.

You can find your own examples, Lyle. My motive was to challenge
the reprehensible assertion you made about my character. I have no
interest in publicly furthering your education.

>In any case, I am much more of a humanities person than a math
>person. It has been a long time since mathematics was my main
>interest.

Anyone competent in the humanities would not be posing an honest
question about the causality of rhetoric as if it were some simple
mechanical process like convection or radiation. The causality of
rhetoric is precisely what the humanities study. But I forgot...
you weren't posing an honest question: you were "driving at
something".

>Well, a pattern seems to be developing, in which I write a private
>message which hurts your feelings, and the next day you make a
>comment on the list about my having no sense of humor, or not
>understanding rhetoric -- comments which are at most tangentially
>relevant to what I said on the list, but very relevant to what I
>said to you privately.

No, Lyle, I hurt your feelings by publicly impugning your sense of
humor and your understanding of rhetoric. It's obvious that you're
quite proud of both. But you needn't be such a crybaby about it
just because some college-dropout Unix geek says you lack both these
treasures.

I'm sorry that this "pattern" is developing, but I'm afraid the
only place where the pattern is developing is within the confines
of your skull. When was the last time you were screened for a
paranoia-inducing chemical imbalance, Lyle? If that's not the cause
of your delusions, then I can only imagine that you're trying to
entrap me in another one of your little self-fulfilling prophecies.
I'm not buying.

Gaming with you is fun, Lyle. But unlike you, I have some respect for
the time and resources of the other people who read this list. Gaming
with you is something I do in private, and for you to simultaneously
try to take that game public *and* accuse me of doing the deed for
you just makes you look the fool. Haven't you noticed that many people
on the list are already automatically discounting everything you say?
Why do you bother? Perhaps it is time for you to bring your little
experiment to an end.

>Slave boys get no apologies.

It's nice to see you enhancing your reputation as an insulting bastard,
Lyle. I'm sure such a reputation will get you far.

--
Eric Watt Forste ++ arkuat@pobox.com ++ http://www.pobox.com/~arkuat/