Eugene Matusov.
At 01:17 PM 6/29/96 -0400, Judy Diamondstone wrote:
>Eugene, I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. Yes, I can see the
>difficulty of finding neutral terms, and precisely for the reasons
>you have found: -- the conformist way is evidently the preferred
>(unmarked?) way...
>
>To make some swooping (-swoooshhh/whoopeee!) generalizations -
>noisy, in the context of middle class/Protestant America,
>is okay when it's at the ball park, not in the midst of getting work
>done or getting through the day - it's okay for spectators maybe,
>not for participants [?] In any case, "noisy" = disruptive.
>And indeed, disruption, disturbance, discomfiture, is what the
>mode of entry you characterize as "noisy" is all about. It's about
>not liking things the way they are and insisting on them being
>different (Not always an effective strategy for change). So maybe
>there is no neutral description. But maybe there's a label that is
>more suited to the way the "noisy" participants are likely to
>see themselves. I don't think of myself as very noisy - nosy, though -
>so I'm not the right informant. My colleague described himself in
>Malcolm X's terms as a "field Negro" - the kind who, when the Master's
>house is burning, doesn't (as the "house Negro" does) put it out (instead,
>he fans the flames). It's not a very generalizable term, eh? But the
>point is that the noisy/disruptive newcomers/participants see
>themselves as agents of _necessary_ change - as serving a moral
>purpose not envisioned or embodied by the existing community.
>The militias, I suppose, are another example of noisiness.
>
>- Judy
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Eugene Matusov
Psychology Department
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
office (408) 459-5180
fax (415) 493-8917
e-mail: ematusov who-is-at cats.ucsc.edu
http://www2.ucsc.edu/people/ematusov
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