[Tango-L] tango to rap

[Tango-L and Tango-A Administrator]

I would suggest that those who have contributed to this thread, or would 
like to do so, read the following.

damian.thompson at ... allegedly wrote:

> Hey fuckhead

... followed by a mix of opinions and personal attacks. Actually, this 
was a personal email sent to Vince Bagušauskas, apparently in response 
to one of his posts. Mr. Thompson did, indeed, attempt to post the same 
email (minus only the colourful salutation) to the list, thereby further 
cementing his status on the list as "on permanent moderation" (as the 
rest of the post was not much of an improvement on the salutation).

As all members of this list know (or should know if they followed the 
suggestion to read the list rules before posting), personal attacks are 
prohibited on this list. There is a longish list of other rules that are 
enforced to varying degrees (most rather lightly), but the one against 
personal attacks is always enforced (and rather vigourously).

The post by David Burnett <daviburn at ...> (obviously now on moderation as 
well):

> I would have said "bombastic troll" or "ignorant pedant"
> myself.
> Those who can dance do, those who can't write meaningless crtiques

clearly falls into this category (not to mention the absence of any 
Tango content either).

The idea is that no one should feel inhibited from posting because they 
are afraid of being attacked personally. Of course, there is no 
guarantee that this will not happen by personal email, and it may even 
happen on the list by someone who abuses his non-moderated status, but 
at least in the latter case it WILL be dealt with.

(As an aside, it boggles the mind that people who cannot even manage 
socially responsible behaviour on a discussion list expect others to 
believe that they can possibly fit into the considerably more socially 
demanding environment of a milonga.)


But returning to Mr. Thompson's blocked post, it made it to the list 
courtesy only of the attacked person who, with whatever purpose, 
apparently intentionally posted the personal email to the list (a 
violation of the list rules that is in fact taken more seriously than 
most). In a Hitchcock-sian twist, Mr. Bagušauskas gets the "credit" for 
posting this flame (see the rule that says that if you post for someone 
who is on moderation, you take responsibility for the content of the post).


Other random observations:

As far as the appropriateness of Mr. Bagušauskas's original post 
providing the link to the video, notwithstanding Trini y Sean 
\(PATangoS\)" <patangos at ...>'s admonishment:

> Vince, if you
> didn't like it and were only going to criticize it (knowing perfectly
> well that others will like it), then why bother posting it at all?

it was an entirely legitimate post, save only for the fact that it was a 
"trivial one-liner" post and should have had some more "meat" to it. 
I.e., don't just post a YouTube link--tell us WHY you are posting it, 
what is so special out out, what you liked or didn't like about it, etc. 
(And yes, indeed the two videos on the making of the ad are much more 
rewarding to watch than the ad itself--turn off the sound on your 
computer if the music bothers you.)


And regarding Charles Roques <c.roques at ...>'s suggestion:

> We have alternative milongas, but now we need an alternative tango list (hint,
> hint Sharukh or whomever ) for the cargo pants, t-shirts and sneakers (and hot pants) crowd.

For the record, as far as Tango-L is concerned, it's all still Tango. 
It's all considered Tango in Buenos Aires even amongst people who have a 
preferences for one style or the other (and it's really more of a 
continuum anyway), and I'm not for creating divisions, notwithstanding 
my own stylistic preferences when it comes to dancing. As some wise 
philosopher said, one learns more by listening to the opinions of those 
who disagree with you, or think differently than you (as long as they do 
so politely :-)).


Tango-L-owner at mit.edu
Tango-L and Tango-A administrators

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