The

zick_krang · Mon, 09 Oct 2000 11:22:16 -0700

Last summer I had the singular misfortune of
seeing the Spike Lee joint/abortion entitled _Summer of
Sam_, a film which I personally found exceptionally
irritating for a variety of reasons (mostly involving
disappointment at the direction of an artist whose hitherto
excellent works- especially _X_ and _Mo' Better Blues_- had
led to an expectation of excellence which was not
fulfilled). Chief among these was the plethora of scenes in
which the group of friends around whom the film is
based would get together and invariably spew a torrent
of vicious, mean-spirited, personal abuse at one of
their members and, when that member chose to absent
himself from their presence, would call after him
(apparently incredulous) "Hey, where ya goin'?". That
bothered me mightily, mostly because the action of
affecting surprise at the abrupt exit of a friend who has
been horribly insulted seems contrary to logic; if one
does something repulsive to another, it stands to
reason that there is going to be a reaction, and in this
case the repulsive action is at very least meritorious
of walking away, if not violence. Real people, it
seemed to me while watching, would not act that way; if
I walked up to an acquaintance and insinuated at
the probable connubial relationship of his mother and
a crowd of paying customers (i.e. "Your momma's a
whore"), I would be more surprised if he chose to stick
around (provided fisticuffs did not follow; him sticking
around to take a swing at me wouldn't be shocking at
all) than if he chose to stomp off, and the last thing
I'd be inclined to do would be call after him,
thuderstruck, "Hey, where ya goin'?".

Why have I chosen
to enter into this rant? Mainly because it seems to
me that some people on the circuit and in this group
seem to have been infected with the "Hey, where ya
goin'?" syndrome; by this, I mean that they don't
understand that when they write something objectionable, a
consequence results which is often in the form of a written
retort employing language somewhat more forceful than
would be used by the Marquess of Queensbury. Further,
several of these same people don't seem to understand
that there is a memory of these objectionable
statements that often will lead to unfavorable receptions of
their later writings, especially if these writings
contain similarly-objectionable statements. I find this
extremely frustrating, as it seems to reveal a lack of
understanding of cause and effect easily manifest in toddlers.

Personally speaking, I don't care that there are often sharp
words exchanged in this forum; we are most of us highy
opinionated and passionate about this game, two ingredients
which often make for a powerful cocktail. I hope that
these exchanges do not drive off potential participants
(either of discussion or QB), but can be understood to be
the result more of passion than malevolence. But for
heaven's sake, realise that if you say something
controversial, there might very well be a pointed response.

In short, be aware of the cause and effect
relationship of what you say/write, and try not to be so
astonished by it. Also, all of you are complete
jerks.

Hey, where ya goin'?