From: "Rosser Jr, John Barkley" <rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu>
Subject: M-I: various regrets
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:30:27 -0500 ()


     Sigh.  I probably should shut up, but I have 
several regrets I feel the need to express on this 
whole by now rather tawdry business.
     1)  I regret having misspoken about Louis Proyect 
calling Hans Ehrbar's boss in my New Years' Eve 
message.  No, I am not apologizing to Lou, as I agree 
with Jerry Levey's interpretation of what happened 
between them.  Lou is still guilty, guilty, guilty, if 
not as guilty as I originally charged.  But, my false 
accusation clearly triggered what has turned into a 
really awful exchange all the way around.
     2)  I regret that the M-I administrators have 
felt the need to ban Jerry Levey.  I do not agree with 
either Jerry's call for a banning of Louis Proyect nor 
with the need for the using the kind of language that 
he did against the M-I administrators.  However, 
their response seems to lend credence to his charge: 
that this was done out of favoritism.  After all, it 
remains the case that for all his contributions to 
M-I, and I have repeatedly recognized those, Louis 
P. has issued more flames on this list than everybody 
else put together.  The alternative hypothesis is that 
since the moderators have not been on the receiving 
end of any of those flames, they have not had the 
opportunity to develop thick skins like some of the 
rest of us.  More generally, this action seems 
unnecessarily censorious and a bad precedent.
     3)  I wish to clarify that the case referred to 
in my original post about someone who was reprimanded 
by a superior had nothing to do with Louis Proyect.
     4)  I also hope that Louis will stick with his 
statement that he will not call anybody's boss.  And I 
also hope that he has learned that making "jokes" 
about such matters is not funny.  I still see no humor 
in his threat against Chris Burford, even if 
listmembers in Portugal are guffawing.
     5)  Finally, I have no confidence whatsoever that 
Louis is going to clean up his act more generally with 
regard to flaming.  This is especially the case given 
the apparently indulgent attitude extended to him by 
the list moderators, as well as such usually sane 
lunch partners of his as we-all-know-who, :-).
     And now, I really intend to say no more about 
this matter on any list whatsoever.  That's all folks, 
:-).
Barkley Rosser

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu




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