---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 11:05:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Angel M.Y. Lin <mylin who-is-at tortoise>
To: Mitsuyo Sakamoto <msakamoto who-is-at oise.on.ca>
Subject: Re: SC: taming voices, civility, "ideological push" (?)
Hi Mitsu,
Thanks very much for your thoughtful message! Yes, I agree that people
do not always see things eye to eye; then we would just have to accept
that we don't... we have different values/beliefs/world views... but
until we have tried to communicate... we'll never know... there's no
such thing as a non-passionate belief, worldview, or value, I suppose;
when we think we are calm and non-passionate, perhaps we're
not really
committed to anything; i think there are times when "passion" can lead us
to hurtful deeds, but not the kind of passion which is deeply rooted in a
basic respect for our fellow human beings... i guess ... what do you say?
Talk to you more at AERA... too many things to handle right now... :-) Angel
On Wed, 3 Apr 1996, Mitsuyo Sakamoto wrote:
>
> Hi Angel,
>
> Things you mentioned in the following provoked me to respond to you:
>
> On Tue, 2 Apr 1996, Angel M.Y. Lin wrote:
>
> > passionate and committed and angry about social injustice does not
> > necessarily gives us a licence to hurt other people; and then of course,
> > you would ask me what i mean by "hurting" people... well, for example,
> > I'm angry about the women-commodifying discourses in beauty contests in
> > Hong Kong; I can be passionate and express my anger about these practices
> > when I talk about these practices, problematize and expose the nature of
> > these discourses... yet, i'd still want to maintain a dialogue with
> > people who "enjoy" watching these beauty contests in Hong Kong... i
> > don't know how i can be passionate and yet let them feel that i'm not
> > aganist them; i just would like to show them the consequences of their
> > practices; i'd like to be able to talk to them, to maintain a
> > relationship with them; otherwise, we'll be like enemies in a war: no
> > dialogue, no mutural transformation...
>
> I share your sentiment regarding 'objectification' of women via
> such things as beauty pageants. I also realize the difficulty of
> communicating with those who enjoy watching them: those with 'different'
> ideologies than ours. What really concerns me, however, is how they
> would be perceiving us.
>
> For example, those who advocate pro-life or pro-abortion do
> promote their beliefs with passion. Who is to say that one is right and
> the other is wrong? It is a very contentious issue. In your passage you
> mention about the 'consequences' for watching beauty contests, but what
> if those who watch it realize possible ill-consequences of what we are
> promoting that we don't/haven't seem to realize?
>
> I may be saying something ridiculous here, but I just felt that
> we need to constantly re-examine and criticize our own beliefs. Passion
> tends to rule/control our beliefs, but I feel that it can be very dangerous.
>
> Mitzi
>
>