Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 11:55:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Butz <dbmarley-AT-spartan.ac.BrockU.CA>
Subject: Re: Kosovo, Bombs and Imperialism




On Fri, 2 Apr 1999 Jemfire-AT-aol.com wrote:

> ....I apologize for the "creepy rhetoric"......."Bananna Republic'" was my 
> shorthand for the quick and easy invasions of Panama and Grenada I had in my 
> mind.......the thought I was trying to convey was that the Serbs would be no 
> easy pushover in a ground war like SOME countries here in our 
> hemisphere......."proud people" was my shorthand for the Serbs being  
> stubborn and very hardened by warlike conditions more so than say....our 
> Canadian neighbors.........******************************AND OH BY THE 
> WAY..Folks this is an electronic medium where facial features, tone of voice, 
> non-standard syntax, and idioms can trip up those of us who may not take the 
> effort to read between the lines, or read whats NOT there to get at the real 
> intended meaning.......please do not be offended by words that to you don't 
> jibe. I will make every effort to sharpen my prose so as to not offend 
> unintentionally.  I am not formally trained nor do I have a University 
> degree... I am just a factory worker in Houston on an assembly line working 
> along many different races of people trying to make sense of exploitation, be 
> it in a factory, country, or a postcolonial web ring.  Sincerely 
> Jemfire...........................Go Fast......Go Left!

Ok, fair enough... your comments about the communicative pitfalls of email
are well-taken. But it's not really a question of offense, or even of
reading unintended meanings and missing intended meanings. Rather, isn't
it a question of the power-effects of discourse? What are the discursive
implications (which are always also material implications) of using
"banana republic" as shorthand for "pushover"... which itself must be
shorthand for something else (say, a particular position within a field of
domination, which limits responses/actions to things that might be
characterised as "pushover")? Or of using "proud people" as a shorthand
for "stubborn and hardened by warlike conditions", which must also be
shorthand for something else?

David.




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