> On Jun 25, 1:13pm, Chris Lott wrote:
>
> Well, Chris, if you honestly believe this:
>
> > Words and language are not going anywhere
>
> Then I have no common ground with which to argue this:
>
> > Tenure is a different matter because it relies on a discussion of
> > different issues.
>
> But I tell you what, the minute I believe the second, I leave academia;
> and the second I believe the first, I quit teaching entirely. Language
> not going anywhere? It's not going to disappear, certainly, but it *is*
> going, always, some*where* ...
You are completely misunderstanding what I mean above--- I mean words are
not going anywhere in the sense that they are not disappearing-- there
are a lot of strange, inherent assumptions in much of what I read about
the future of the net and print and writing that often make it sound as
if, thanks to the net and computers, language is going to die on us. All
we need are jacks in the head, right? But even when it is not this
extreme, it IS there-- that is why I think it intersting that many
people, particularly on the anti-net (or at least not "pro") side tend to
confuse "print" with "text" and/or "language" and/or "words".
>
> The rules are changing as the various media evolve, collide, merge, and
> diverge, only to eventually evolve, collide and merge yet again. So, in
> fact, tenure is NOT a different matter. The issues are *changing* only
> because a good many of us are making noise about changing them. To dismiss
> that fact with "that's a different matter" is to misunderstand the point
> entirely.
Again, once you started reading what I was saying the way you did, you
missed MY points-- I guess I was not clear. I am not in any way
dismissing the idea of tenure, nor do I think that it can/does exist
outside of the scope of a discussion of electronic journals-- I was
merely making the point that what I was talking about, the confusion of
many net-naysayers is often based on issues that are not really the same
as the issue of tenure, which is another part of this thread. I was not
addressing that issue, though I am in fundamental agreement with you and
others on this point!
> Language is changing, and with it reality is changing. Old, grizzled,
> nonsensical realities like tenure.
Again, I assumed that it would be understood that when I said it is not
"going anywhere" I was using it in the way I hear it all the time--
meaning it is not going away...
> stepping off the soap box,
You done good pardner, but you shot the wrong man...
-- Chris Lott fncll@aurora.alaska.edu