From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 11/15/02-03:42:42 PM Z
On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, Kerik Kouklis wrote:
> Nor should you believe everything you read on this list or anywhere else.
> Try for yourself before taking anyone's word for granted.
That's absolutely true -- except the beauty of the list is that if someone
says something dumb, wrong, possibly wrong, controversial, or perhaps even
correct, somebody else (or somebodies else) will jump on it, or anyway
qualify it. Argument may even ensue -- so folks know to at least be
wary. Also, the *argument* often pulls out good info, not otherwise
articulated (as for instance the recent discussion of scanners).
With a book, you're alone at home on your own -- with the power of print
and pretty pictures granting an air of authority. A propos of which I
recall the mid-70s when the reigning orthodoxy of art theory was at last
being dismantled: protesters jumped up and down on the "tone of
authority," not in the theory itself, but in its manifestations in print.
I think the same applies to a lot of books & articles -- blame for which I
lay at feet of publishers more than authors. Publishers/editors (rightly
or wrongly) think (I think) that simple certitude sells better. (Like
kits?).
J.
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