Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 12:17:36 -0500 (EST)
From: "Brian A. Connery" <connery-AT-oakland.edu>
Subject: Re: PLC: discursive self-regulation



The very phrase "discursive self-regulation implies, accurately
that authority will be exercised, whether or not it's centrally
and/or formally organized.  That this list has idealistically
undertaken an experiment to work without a regulatory net
doesn't at all mean that subscribers aren't implicated in a
network of power/authority negotiations.

Every post, implicitly or explicitly, is a bid for authority.
Any post implicitly claims itself as a norm for the list,
saying, in a way, "This is the sort of discursive behavior that
belongs here."  Some posts, like one earlier today proclaiming
illegible the writing of John Young (which I quite like and find
eminently amusing, myself) are overt attempts to silence.  Some
posts, like the recent SHUN SHUN SHUN post, are militant
attempts to form power blocs that will silence.

All argument is an attempt to silence, i.e. to put an end to an
open question and so to end discussion.  All attempts to push
discussion further (the sort of thing that Reg does so well; he
must be a master teacher!) enact authorization.

So I'm puzzled by the implicit claims of innocence of the will
to power that I hear around these cyber-hallways.

Moreover, the premise that unlimited free speech tends to the
good in the marketplace of ideas seems simply a recapitulation
of Adam Smith's capitalist manifesto, arguing that individuals
pursuing their own self interest will converge--by means of an
invisible hand--to create the common good.  I don't believe this
in economics, and I don't believe it in discourse either.  

Swift remarked that claims of being persecuted are usually a
prelude to demands for the power to persecute others.

Fight the man.  Free John Young!

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Brian Connery			
connery-AT-oakland.edu 
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