brutal prose

Lyle Burkhead (LYBRHED@delphi.com)
Fri, 24 Jan 1997 18:29:39 -0500 (EST)


I wrote,

: Good. Now you know what real art is. (I can hear the reply already:
: "Oh, so that's what real art is. It makes you sick!" No, dear... but
: it has an intense effect, for better or worse. It gets things in focus
: so you can't help responding.)

to which QueeneMUSE replied:

> Unless you think I am dear to you, you're condescending ,
> I feel ill again

Hmm. Maybe you are dear to me, sort of... there was an element of
affectionate playfulness in that "No, dear." But I was also being
condescending. Both. The thing is, Nadia, you presented yourself to
the list, and to me, as a woman. Not an austere philosopher like
Elizabeth Anscombe, but a bubbly female, kind of an artist/airhead
type. That's the role you have established for yourself, and you are
going to get some condescension. Not only that -- here's another
brutal truth -- when you say that the concept of real art is
too silly to respond to, you are going to get hostility and contempt
from people who care deeply about real art.

But my intention was never to make you ill. Making women ill
was my dad's trip, not mine. If that's what's happening here, then
I do need to change my ways. Point taken.

Lyle