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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 31: 47: What Foreign Language Is That? (FROM MODERATORS)

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  • From: David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 31: 47: What Foreign Language Is That? (FROM MODERATORS)
  • Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:32:43 +1100

Dear Kirk,

I'm afraid I did not exactly say what you attribute to me, viz. that "b-hebrew exists to promote scholarly discussion." Rather, I said that b-hebrew is a list which "seeks to promote scholarly sincerity in relation to the analysis and discussion of BH". This is quite different and what I take it George meant when he said: "let's create an environment where we can exchange ideas cordially and in a scholarly manner."

"Scholarly discussion" and "scholarly sincerity/scholarly manner" are not the same things to my mind. Like I said, the value of the list diminishes if people move on. But so too the value of the list diminishes if scholarly disciplines are not maintained nor expected. So sure: we should be allowed free speech as it pertains to the list bounds -- but not everything falling under "free speech" should be allowed if it is essentially "statements of fact" without any corroborative evidenced adduced. Indeed, the list guidelines state: "support your counterpoints with evidence". But what if the *main points* are not even supported?

Sincerely,
David Kummerow.



David Kummerow wrote, On 11/29/07 04:18:

/ Hi George,
/>/ />/ To turn to your 'survivor' example, there is always the option for />/ people to 'remove themselves from the island' due to the 'conduct' of
/>/ others on the 'island'.
/>/ />/ I'm with Yitzhak: a list that seeks to promote scholarly sincerity in
/>/ relation to the analysis and discussion of BH should not have to suffer
/>/ a continual barrage of entirely obvious erroneous and fanciful />/ mumbo-jumbo trotted out and paraded as matter-of-fact linguistic truth. />/ The list is, and should be, above this. Somewhere a line needs to be />/ drawn to protect long-suffering list members from 'voting themselves />/ off' in the interests of their in-box. The value of the list is />/ diminished if people move on because they have become 'sick of the island'.
/>/
/

David,

People -- good people -- have left b-hebrew before this. It will unfortunately happen again.

You are in error if you think b-hebrew exists to promote scholarly discussion. That is secondary. It's primary purpose from the beginning has always been to offer a public forum for people who otherwise would not interact with one another directly. If it is public, and all may join, then there is no way to legitimately limit content that is within bounds of our charter. (There are exclusively scholarly forums, such as miqra, I believe.)

The moment we begin to monitor and control intellectual content, we immediately create a power structure and then the fight for control begins. Since I'm one of the moderators, do I get to be the censor? :-)

What I find valuable is the ability to interact with real representatives of points of view different from my own. And yes, to interact with those who knowledge is better than my own in all kinds of disciplines relating to the understanding of the Hebrew Bible.

The uniqueness of this kind of forum is that all levels of discussion are possible. No one controls or dominates the discussion. And it's *easy* to filter out the nonsense. If I think someone is a bozo, I can simply ignore their postings. Or create a filter in my email program to delete them. I can identify those with whom I can have profitable discussions and only respond to them. And everyone else benefits, too.

I don't think "Survivor" is an accurate metaphor for our community. Everything we do here in our little corner of cyberspace is completely voluntary. Apart from the minimalist rules we have to make sure we can have civil and polite discussion on our charter topic(s), no one is in charge.

Imagine the exodus from b-hebrew if *I* took charge and controlled what everyone could say?!

Blessings,

Kirk
B-Hebrew co-chair
--
Kirk E. Lowery, PhD, Director
The J. Alan Groves Center for Advanced Biblical Research
(formerly, the Westminster Hebrew Institute)
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
Blog: http://whi.wts.edu/blogs/kirk/
--
"Good boy, Dex!"
-- Joseph "Sky Captain" Sullivan






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