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
Email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 206-685-5240
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