Subj : The Game
To   : Curtis Johnson
From : P.E.G.
Date : Sun Oct 22 2000 01:14 pm

 Hello Johnson,

 The P.E.G. SUPER-SECRET HEADQUARTERS recently intercepted your
 comments in this thread which began with this bit of humor:

 PEG> Man!!  Talking with you is like getting hit in the head with a
 PEG> history book.  Now we've got to go out in search of a "Melian"
 PEG> and learn about his/her/their/its "Dialogue."  :-)  Then we'll
 PEG> have to track down Roosevelt and Churchill and ask them about
 PEG> their "Four Freedoms" program and see if it's worth watching.
 PEG> (On second thought, maybe this old Fleetwood Mac video will
 PEG> do.)
 
 CJ> Now, Frank, how many people here do you think would really
 CJ> have recognized that reference to _The Peloponnesian War_,
 CJ> Thucydides? (IMHO, this book should have been required reading
 CJ> for all U.S. college students during the Cold War.)

 FM> Well, I suppose that in time and with adequate instructions
 FM> from you and Todd Henson I may learn how and what to write in my
 FM> posts here. I probably SHOULD just keep silent until I KNOW that
 FM> what I write will meet the approval of a variety of different
 FM> people with different experiences.  I stand, like a child,
 FM> admonished and corrected.

 CJ> False modesty sarcasm is even more irritating when it is
 CJ> misdirected.

 Johnson, you find Frank's writing to be irritating?

 CJ> While it certainly is true that someone should explain or
 CJ> not explain their allusions with regard to the knowledge base
 CJ> of the audience (you do know that, don't you?),

 Which is it?  Should explain or should not explain?
 What is the knowledge base of _this_ audience?

 CJ> ... the gibe was aimed rather at the low level of the
 CJ> knowledge base of the participants here regarding classical
 CJ> texts or recent history.

 You admit you're gibing others.  Yet, you lead with that reference
 to being irritated.  That's most peculiar.  I wish I had studied
 psychiatry.  :-)

 In the above we find indication of your thoughts about the people
 who participate here.  You conclude that we know little or nothing
 about "classical texts" or "recent history."  Based on what?  The
 humor at the top of this post?  Golly gee!  :-)

 CJ> After all, my above shows not only that I caught the allusion,

 Bully for you, Johnson!  Huzzah!  Huzzah!  :)

 CJ> but thought that it is a shame that it is not more widely
 CJ> recognizable.

 Someone references "Melian Dialogue" and you feel that we should
 immediately recognize that he's talking about Thucydides?

 How long do you expect people to remember something about ancient
 Greece that they were taught in a classroom?  10 years?  20?  30?

 You say that the book in question should have been required reading
 for all college students during the Cold War.  What about the
 college students of today?  Which Greek authors and texts should be
 part of their required school curriculum?  And which left out?

 How many hours of "recent history" should be required?  What areas
 of history?  Whose history?  What is to be considered recent?
 Please keep in mind your audience in this international echo.


 We at the P.E.G.'s * SUPER-SECRET * HEADQUARTERS need your answers
 in order to address the inadequacies that you perceive.

 Let's make this world a kinder, gentler, mo' better place.

 Thank you!




--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: .       *   *   *       . (1:396/45.20)

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