Re: please stop: a reply to miller and
maarja
Everyone should feel free to share his or her opinion on a
matter. Reasonable debate on an issue should not only be
allowed, but encouraged. Backing up statements with evidence or
reasoning should be the ideal...especially among educated people.
All of this would constitute intelligent dialogue. A good
undergraduate education should have prepared all of us to critically
think, problem solve, and express ourselves with clarity and
confidence. Strong conclusions should be supported by valid and
persuasive premises. Threats and false accusations are not the
mark of an educated professional in any field.
To be a professional does not simply mean to have such and such
accreditation from such and such place. To be professional must
include demonstrating a minimum level of respect toward peers and
their intellectual questions. No amount of credentials can
compensate for this.
Below is my reply to Dana Miller and Maarja....
Dana Miller writes:
This has become utterly ridiculous and unprofessional, so
please all, excuse me for defending my position so vehemently in the
first place. I am shocked.
I reply: A professional must restrain oneself from
outbursts of emotion and abuse...whether onlist or off. To do
otherwise is truly shocking. Defending a position is perfectly
fine, there is no excuse for making false and outlandish allegations
involving gender discrimination toward me.
Miller writes:
This is one of the reasons that people hop right off this
listserv and I'm about to do the same, perhaps to the glee of many.
I happily concede to you your glee; my life and my opinion will go on
unchanged.
I reply: Speaking for myself, I certainly hope that my
views and life will continually change as new facts, insights and
perspectives are presented. I would be embarrassed to say that
my opinions will go on unchanged. That is tantamount to dogma. E
A person certainly should go off they list if he or she cannot act
civilly.
Miller writes:
Obviously no one should go to a graduate program if they
don't want to or don't believe in them or have any other objections to
them- no matter what anyone, including myself with my strong opinions,
has to say about it.
I reply: Strong opinions are not what is at issue. Please
don't rationalize poor behavior. Also, no one has encouraged a person
to attend a graduate program if he or she does wish to do so.
That was never the issue being discussed. This is off the mark.
Miller writes:
I apologize to anyone who is offended by my points.
I would encourage you to do further research into the subject and to
publish in the future and would be interested to see the
result.
I reply: Your points were not offensive, just off the mark.
Your false allegations and threats are what is patently
offensive.
Miller closes:
I plaintively requested to be left alone- I would ask that
favor again. There really is a collection waiting on my desk,
and it is more important than another round of fruitless
bickering.
I reply: You have freely chosen to make comments and I have
chosen to reply to them. You are not being emailed personally or
harassed. I am replying to your comments that you have posted
both to the listserv and to my personal email account. I
encourage you to work on your collection.
Maarja wrote:
That said, I'm uneasy about the practice of posting to the
List private, off-list messages attributed to identifiable
individuals.
I reply: Hi Maarja, I would hope that you would be even
more uneasy with being sent off-list abusive email. Because of
that, I did what someone ought to do...that is, document it
immediately. It was the quickest and easiest way to remedy the
situation. This is not a privacy issue; all bets are off when
you threaten another. There is no better venue to document such
a situation than within the arena of one's peers. You all ARE
the friends in "high places". :)
All of us in the field of information should realize that emails
are NEVER private. Once you hit send, that's it. It's out
into the world forever and could end up anywhere. Also realize that
throwing out false accusations of gender based harassment and
threatening reprisals is no small matter and one should be prepared to
stand by those claims or face the fallout.
Come to think of it, accountability is another quality of any
professional.
If I am blacklisted because of the views expressed in these
recent emails, then so be it. I can live with that.
Cordially,
John
--
John Erdmann
Graduate Student
Library & Information Science
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