From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Keywords: Greeks race Cramer foolishness
Date: 26 Aug 92 21:45:04 GMT
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA

In article <1992Aug26.081738.12086@cheshire.oxy.edu>, rooney@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael Sean Rooney) writes:
> In article <11888@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> >How many nonwhite ancient Greeks were there, by the way?  Greeks are
> >a people of indisputably white race. 
>  
> 	When was the last time you saw Herodotos in the flesh, eh,
> Clayton?  Did he seem "indisputably white"?  There's little ethno-      

Sorry, I'll just ignore all the statutes left from the classical
civilization.

> archaeological evidence as to the "color" of the ancient Hellenes.
> They were probably about as "white" as similar east Mediterranean
> peoples, i.e., definitely non-Germano-Scandinavian.  Or were they
> mixed?  Perhaps "colored"?  Those from Asia Minor, "Asian"?  How
> indisputable, whiteness? 

East Mediterranean peoples are definitely white, asshole.  So are
Asian Minor people, asshole.

> 	Take your Afrikaaner logic elsewhere, Clayton.

Afrikaaner logic?  For pointing out the absurdity of a phrase
like "nonwhite ancient Greeks"?  Liberalism's downfall is nonsense
like this turd Rooney.

> >Maybe I'm just a narrow-minded sort, but unless a writer makes a point
> >of telling me his race or gender, and that it has some significance to 
> >what he is writing about (e.g., Shelby Steele's _The Content of our 
> >Character_), I don't see much point to classifying the author by race 
> >or gender.
> 
> 	So the fact that women and minorities make up a marginal,     
> highly disproportionate fraction of the U.S. Congress is irrelevant?

Yup.  Irrelevant.  Whether a Congresscritter is white, black, male,
female, whatever, is irrelevant.  Hell, I'm no liberal, I vote for
what a person based on what they say, not how they look.

> You miss the intention of the original posters.  They were attempting
> to detect the disproportionately small numbers of minorities in the
> traditional canon of so-called great literature.  Do you get the point?
> Or have non-whites simply not produced any "great works" worthy of the
> canon?

The literary canon is definitely cultural in nature.  I would agree
that there is doubtless some very fine literature produced by 
non-Europeans.  _Things Fall Apart_ by the Nigerian writer is
pretty impressive.  But until very recently, the non-European
cultures have had little impact on our culture (outside of the
area of religion).  Americans are not all that well represented
in the literary canon.  Big deal.  Until recently, we were a
remote outpost of European civilization (and some will doubtless
argue that we still are).

> >Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
> >Alcohol prohibition didn't work; drug prohibition doesn't work; gun
> >prohibition won't work.
> 
> 	Neither does intelligence prohibition.
> 
> Michael S. Rooney

You know, rec.arts.books (perhaps because it's dominated by
liberals) has among the least polite jerks anywhere on USENET.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
Alcohol prohibition didn't work; drug prohibition doesn't work; gun
prohibition won't work.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books