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I received an email from Steinbeck today:
I laughed out loud. However, I will not move to apologise until requested to do so by the gentleman himself for the following reasons:
1) If I assign you a name in this blog and it displeases you, the mature thing to do, in my opinion, is to leave me a comment saying straight to me, "I am the person you called [---]; I find that name displeasing for the following reasons: [---]; please change it." I will reply that I apologise for it and change it promptly. Ask Shilhak-Inshushinak; he knows. All comments on Blogspot, at least, go through comment moderation, so your request can be discreet and I will just take the action you requested, and all comments are emailed to me, so I am aware that the gentleman in question has left no such comment. Mocking me behind my back is childish. If you find my judgement in this displeasing, do not be afraid to leave a comment telling me so, and your reasons for it.
2) Calling me anti-Semitic makes me laugh as first of all,
A. I lived in Israel for 15 months, and then have 10 years of further Jewish education. If I chose to identify with any religion, it is likely to be Judaism.
B. I did not know said gentleman was a Jew or a Semite, and if I had known, I frankly would not have cared because
C. If I spoke about him negatively, I described in detail my reasons why, and nowhere in those reasons was it mentioned what group he belonged to. Indeed, to dismiss any criticism I make of any individual in particular as referring to any group in general is ridiculous. I can just as easily write off any criticism anyone makes of me as being a sexist remark; to accuse me of anti-Semitism is more absurd still as, unlike my being a woman, said gentleman's being a Semite is not evident beyond all doubt to the eye. The mature person, perceiving individual criticism, offers counterarguments as to why this individual criticism is unmerited or false, instead of making accusations of a crime against any group, particularly when no group membership was mentioned in the criticism. Thus, to accuse me of being anti-Brandeis would have some small weight, as I mentioned said gentleman's membership in this group; to accuse me of being anti-male, even, would have some small weight, although would be easily dismissed; to accuse me of being anti-Semitic has absolutely none.
Please feel free to comment on the soundness of my judgement in this case, and if your arguments against my reasoning convince me, I will make corrections to the post in question and make another post describing the error in my judgement.
[The gentleman whom I called "Hawkface" here] has found your blog and noted the moniker "Hawkface" in your SCT summary as an anti-Semitic remark. He's not angry about it, but he has used it for mocking you behind your back.
I wouldn't recommend being angry toward him, but you should probably apologize. (Goes on to cite said gentleman's email)
I laughed out loud. However, I will not move to apologise until requested to do so by the gentleman himself for the following reasons:
1) If I assign you a name in this blog and it displeases you, the mature thing to do, in my opinion, is to leave me a comment saying straight to me, "I am the person you called [---]; I find that name displeasing for the following reasons: [---]; please change it." I will reply that I apologise for it and change it promptly. Ask Shilhak-Inshushinak; he knows. All comments on Blogspot, at least, go through comment moderation, so your request can be discreet and I will just take the action you requested, and all comments are emailed to me, so I am aware that the gentleman in question has left no such comment. Mocking me behind my back is childish. If you find my judgement in this displeasing, do not be afraid to leave a comment telling me so, and your reasons for it.
2) Calling me anti-Semitic makes me laugh as first of all,
A. I lived in Israel for 15 months, and then have 10 years of further Jewish education. If I chose to identify with any religion, it is likely to be Judaism.
B. I did not know said gentleman was a Jew or a Semite, and if I had known, I frankly would not have cared because
C. If I spoke about him negatively, I described in detail my reasons why, and nowhere in those reasons was it mentioned what group he belonged to. Indeed, to dismiss any criticism I make of any individual in particular as referring to any group in general is ridiculous. I can just as easily write off any criticism anyone makes of me as being a sexist remark; to accuse me of anti-Semitism is more absurd still as, unlike my being a woman, said gentleman's being a Semite is not evident beyond all doubt to the eye. The mature person, perceiving individual criticism, offers counterarguments as to why this individual criticism is unmerited or false, instead of making accusations of a crime against any group, particularly when no group membership was mentioned in the criticism. Thus, to accuse me of being anti-Brandeis would have some small weight, as I mentioned said gentleman's membership in this group; to accuse me of being anti-male, even, would have some small weight, although would be easily dismissed; to accuse me of being anti-Semitic has absolutely none.
Please feel free to comment on the soundness of my judgement in this case, and if your arguments against my reasoning convince me, I will make corrections to the post in question and make another post describing the error in my judgement.
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