once i reach the place where i accept that each of us creates, negotiates,
expresses a unique reality, then my motive leans more towards greater
diversity in perspectives, in gathering up a greater number of realities
as a means of understanding my own (my own partical perspectives, my own
biases and desires and fears).
and that's all there is.
there is no move upwards or onwards, closer to truth or right or
correctness.
(well, there are plenty of people who use a belief in right as their
favorite tool for constructing reality, and i have to deal with many of
them on a day to day basis.)
i do not speak as a person who has to make the decision about mary daly's
tenure.
i only desire that more voices be heard in the decision making process. i
believe that any purposive, directive, action is doomed to fail or at
least generate multiple, unintended, contradictory actions. many women and
men benefited from the title ix legislation. some women and men suffered
in the conditions that legislation helped create.
if mary daly gets reinstated, some women might suffer in the future, but
those who want to take her class in the safe space that she strives to
create (and i accept that this is my imagination speaking here) will
likely feel benefitted.
there is no right answer, it's all always negotiated.
who is allowed to participate in the negotiation, who gets listened to and
who gets ignored, are what constantly need to be questioned, in my mind.
laws are useful tools to simplify the negotiaton process when many, many
people are involved, but they also can be inflexible, to disallow
renegotiation when it's needed (as perceived by the participants).
>
>
>I've received
>many messages off list from people who thanked me for my position some of
>whom also stated that they were unwilling to come forward publically. I
>have some notions about why this might be the case. It smells of fear of
>reprisals for not towing the politically correct line.
i am sorry that some people on this list feel afraid to speak their own
minds and hearts. i was anxious about forwarding the original posting on
mary daly, unsure how it would be received, certain that at least someone
would perceive it as a signal for battle.
but i have found xmca to be one of the best places (wherever it is!) for
taking those kinds of risks. most people here seem to share or overlap
with my belief system regarding the value of diversity of opinions and the
desire to learn more (more perspectives, more understandings, more
explanations of the same phenomena---human behavior) and not less
(narrowing down on some particular truth).
i feel i should say at this point, that several people contacted me with
back channel messages initially and i felt that some of them were
reluctant to "come forward publically" for approximately the reasons
mentioned above.
i see this as evidence of the negotiating process.
what is xmca? what is allowed here? who decides? who accepts those
decisions?
it's fascinating, really!
i have learned a lot from this exchange on xmca and am glad that it was
started and allowed to flourish. i want to thank all of those who took
risks to voice their opinions and feelings.
i now have more tools in my box and more ideas about how and when to use
them!
>
kathie
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
start all over.
start all over.
we need to make new symbols,
make new signs,
make a new language,
with these we'll redefine the world
and start all over.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^tracy chapman:new beginning
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~katherine_goff/index.html