From: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc
Subject: Ballistic
Date: 20 Nov 92 22:35:21 GMT
Reply-To: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Organization: Heurikon Corporation, Madison, WI

cubsfan@camelot.bradley.edu (Michael Silverman) writes:
>"Being preented to us as facts?"  Asuming Shea has been on the net for
>a while (which he has), I would think that by now he would recognize
>that nearly everything written here is *opinion*, and even if
>it is being presented as fact, the discerning reader should realize
>that a post is opinion anyways.

Asuming [sic] that you've been on the net for a while, you might have 
realized that the net is flooded with America's engineering school
youth who have difficulty with the simple notion of bracketing their
work in terms of opinion - not those who (like yourself, to be charitable)
simply don't bother to include the phrase before pontificating. In 
the absence of real contact with poster sorts, one attempts to determine
the expertise of an individual either through the experience of having 
read their work often or by noticing the extent to which they write
carefully. If you wished to be taken seriously by "discerning" readers,
perhaps a little caution with the brackets might be in order.

>I am the orignal poster of this thread...I was bored, and decided to post
>my opinion of the top 10 bands of all time.  I was not responsible
>for the knee-jerk reaction of Shea and others which has flooded this
>group in recent days.

I don't think that the persons on the net I consider to be discerning
(welcome back, Ken. It's good to see you, although I don't remember
you to have been as handy with the rapier last time around.) would ever
do anything like a posting as loaded with presumption as an unbracketed
"top ten of all time." Many of us probably don't post merely because
we're bored, either (except for some of the really funny stuff coming
from Clayton and the dx, which I confess I *have* found entertaining in
their ability to summon the memory of earlier memorable exchanges of 
views).

>What I originally posted is my opinion, is still my opinion, and 
>if you disagree with it, that is your right.  

You know, If you'd simply said that in the first place, this would
never have happened (probably a lot of us would have just "n"-ed 
right through it hunting for more substantial postings.

>As far as my white, suburban
>background which influenced my choices, well, if you don't like where
>I came from, than you are prejudiced. If you think it means
>I only think in a certain way, than you are stereotyping me.

For me, you're free to come from anywhere you wish to come. My background
and yours are probably almost alike (suburbs of Chicago). What you do
with the resources you have are what are what matter. I do reserve a
certain amount of distrust for anyone who doesn't travel outside of their
circle of light whilst simultaneously claiming that anything in the darkness
is not worth looking at anyhow. We spend our time hunting for postings
of West African pop or Al's reviews of synthpop reissues or Eli Messinger
on Martin Denny because we view the unknown as places we're interested
in hearing and reporting on. The funny thing is that you're *least*
likely to hear much more than "in my opinion" from folks like Al or
Eli.

>Ray Shea's opinion and background are not "superior" to mine, or
>anyone elses.  He is just one of thousands with opinions, as I am.

Ah, but all opinions are not equal. I never my baby sister about good
prices for SIMMS to install in our on-site workstations. I'm simply much
more likely to trust Clay's opinions on *anything* (since I've gone hunting
for the stuff he recommends) than yours at this point. Of course, that
can certainly change. Heck, I knew Soren Peterson* back when he was 
jamming alligator clips into the inside of pianos and playing fractured
rags on the USENET compilation tapes, so his elevation as a net-god must
certainly be an indication of the perfectability of net-folk :-)  Time
heals all, and the way before you is open. Why not try a real posting
about something more substantial?

*one of the younger pantheon of netgodhood, along with Lazlo and R o d.

--
-The world exhausts everything except my eyes/because it is a long walk to the
world/begun before I was born. In the far corner/the dead woman bows off stage
The television/crumples into a white dot as the last/train of the evening - my
train, is announced/I lived in one place. I want to die in another 608-828-3385