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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Kind Words of Caution
This letter is kind of ironic, is't it?
For those of you who are not familar with the English word "ironic"
I kindly include 2 short blurbs from Websters dictionary.
:)
-alan
iron.ic \i--'ra:n-ik\ \-i-k*l\ \-k(*-)le-\ \-k*l-n*s\ aj 1: relating to,
containing, or constituting irony 2: given to irony - iron.i.cal aj
iro.ny \'i--r*-ne-\ n [L ironia, fr. Gk eiro-nia, fr. eiro-n dissembler] 1:
a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in
order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit
questioning 2a: the use of words to express something other than and esp.
the opposite of the literal meaning 2b: a usu. humorous or sardonic
literary style or form characterized by irony 2c: an ironic expression or
utterance 3a1: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of
events and the normal or expected result 3a2: an event or result marked by
such incongruity 3b: incongruity between a situation developed in a drama
and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience
but not by the characters in the play 4: an attitude of detached awareness
of incongruity typical of the depictor or observer of an ironic situation
......... Tim Bass is rumored to have said:
]
]
] Nanog,
]
] Before we begin to retire into the slow holiday mode of operation,
] I would like to offer this simple thought as a word of caution
] for those engaged in internetworking discussions.
]
] Last week, someone asked a valid question about pending and potential
] problems with aggregation and address space portability issues. The
] initial response was a statement validating that concern with hopes
] of a developing a fruit bearing discussion on this very controversial
] " in the closet " topic. The public process then followed the common
] disturbing direction that always clouds the issues (especially on the
] potential non-technical problems of aggregation) and effectively
] destroyed any prospect of meaningful interchange.
]
] I kindly caution many on this list, as internetworking topics are discussed
] related to Internet operations, *not* to be seduced by those skillful
] at pedantic discussions that obfuscate any controversial position
] that they disagree. Especially on the Internet, many are seduced by
] those who obfuscate the facts by pedantic side discussions and this
] important list is no exception.
]
] For those of you who are not familar with the English word "pedant"
] I kindly include a short blurb from Websters dictionary.
]
] pedant, n. 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate show of
] learning. 2. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor
] details....
]
] I kindly caution those unfamiliar with pedantic postings and the use
] of pedanticism on mailing lists to understand when to recognize these
] email postings and responses that tend to be pedantic in nature.
] Pedanticism can be used very effectively to seduce the public into
] refocusing the discussion from a logical argument that cannot be won nor
] argued convincingly, to one that is tangential to the topic. Often
] these pedantic responses clearly and effectively allow the poster
] to change the subject and then demonstrate their "knowledge" in a
] tangential or related subject area which they are well versed. As you
] can see, this clearly obfuscates the original concerns and issues.
]
]
] As we approach 1996, I only caution out of kind regard for tangible
] progress in building internet services to practice recognizing
] when 'hawks and eagles' and other high flying posters enjoy easily
] seducing the general audience with pedanticism, either intentional
] or unintenional.
]
] Practicing, in your own mind, to discern and recognize pedantic email
] discussions helps all of us who care about enjoying 'meaningful,
] tangible discussions' to think with clear comprehension. It is very
] well documented in civilized history that pure intellect and logic
] without attempting to include elements of patience and kindness,
] is *not* wisdom. Wisdom is the pursuit and practice of intellect
] with patience and understanding of others. For all of us, especially
] me, the pursuit of changing raw technical excellence to refined
] wisdom is a very challenging life pursuit. I work daily to improve my
] self-awarenedd in this area because, as an electrical engineer, I once
] believed that the 'intellect of building systems' was more important
] than the 'less intelligent ' society we engineer systems to benefit.
]
] This manner of thinking is clearly flawed and those, including myself,
] who are attracted to 'higher education' and intellectual pursuits
] have a nature human tendency to be seduced by this incomplete position.
] What is less common is to find those same individuals who recognize
] this and tend to pursuit wisdom as well as intellect.
]
] Kind Regards,
]
] Tim
]
] PS: Please enjoy safe travel during the holiday weekend. I'm heading
] out to stay with family in Tennessee and face a long 10 hour
] drive as well.
]
] +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
] | Tim Bass | #include<campfire.h> |
] | Principal Network Systems Engineer | for(beer=100;beer>1;beer++){ |
] | The Silk Road Group, Ltd. | take_one_down(); |
] | | pass_it_around(); |
] | http://www.silkroad.com/ | } |
] | | back_to_work(); /*never reached */ |
] +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
]
]
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