Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 16:03:00 -0400
From: "Anthony McCann" <mccannat-AT-si.edu>
Subject: Re: Re:Changing one's mind ...


Nonetheless, we are out here in virtual space of words and rhetoric, not
real relations.  On this list, are these real encounters with people?>
Jaclyn>

They are relations, of course, but I prefer to think of them in terms of register. That allows me to think of situations like this in terms of modalities of power. (I understand registers as an analytic tool that speaks to what I understand as the constant and dynamic compatability of structures of expectation in social interaction - see http://www.beyondthecommons.com for how I understand structures of expectation, and power). 

Because of the frequent confluence of technology and print and obsessive behaviour in this context there is a tendency for many email lists to enter into a dynamic of what I understand as 'registers of enclosure', in which the dominant disposition is a general tendency towards the elimination of uncertainty. (I understand 'disposition' as a consistent orientation towards uncertainty.) 

The following is incipient, theoretically speaking, but will be developed as the year goes on.

The more that the dominant disposition tends towards enclosure the less fun it is for general participation - Registers of enclosure have certain dominant characteristics that can be identified as arising from the dominant power strategies of people involved in this type of interaction. (These characteristics are manifest in many ways):

Thing-centred
binary oppositions and separations
audio-visual, verbal discursive dominance
Politics of claim and counterclaim
Conflictive
surveillance
dominant orthodoxy
Trust is accidental

These are often the characteristics of interaction on internet lists, especially the more passionate ones. People who would rather not be involved in such interaction tend to retreat and leave. The drop-off rate for internet lists is legendary.

For those who wish to talk about the Israeli/Palestine situation, this applies there too.

It also applies to boxing matches, corporate boardrooms, courtrooms, Imperial war-rooms, anti-imperial war-rooms etc etc etc.

Don't forget also, that avoiding conflict can
easily become a form of collaboration with the *enemy* or worse, a form of
self mutilation.>

Conflict, as I understand it, cannot be avoided as it is a constant and dynamic condition of our experience (expectational difference). As is community/communitas, or whatever you want to call it (expectational compatability. 

Further, the construction of 'enemies' is often, if not always, a problematic strategy.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Anthony



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