Subject: Re: AN OPEN LETTER
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 15:35:00 -0400
From: Daniel Rhatigan <Sparky@inch.com>
Newsgroups: alt.zines
Dolya wrote:
> How can you complain about someone using a word if you use that word yourself?
Easily. The complaint is about use of the use (or misuse) or words, the intent of words, the implications of words. Personally, I don’t think words themselves should be damned, but I can object to the ways they’re wielded. Like I don’t object to baseball bats unless they’re being used to smack someone in the head.
We’re zine publishers, right? Presumably that also means we’re writers — words are our tools and part of the substance of our work. Even if my subjective point of view — I don’t like feeling maligned by strangers — is irrelevant, my objective point of view is still valid. Words have meanings, often multiple meanings, and usually defined by the intent of the writer or speaker. If you are going to communicate with words, use them well. Know what you are trying to say. If you don’t want to offend, see that you don’t. If you want to offend? Whatever — go for the jugular, but know that you are doing it. And be ready to take the inevitable criticism. That’s all.