Re: Sick of bashers (was: Re: Sick of KB)

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (chris williams)]

>Although I question the wisdom behind posting to a Kate Bush fan group
>about how someone used to be a Kate Bush fan but isn't any longer, I
>do respect that opinion and would never post about how I'm such a
>better fan because I do this-and-that in the name of Kate Bush.  I
>just hope that nobody posts a response about how Kimmo Lindman really
>doesn't know Kate Bush or didn't hear her music correctly.

   Check the archives. "Love-Hounds" is almost nothing *but* opinions,
and disagreements. Frankly, as Kate takes so long between albums there
is little else to do.

   I posted a short synopsis of my Kate-fan activities in response
to a somewhat high-handed tone in your response to my response.
I find the same tone in this post. Like the following line.

>Kimmo Lindman's post made me think of the worth of this musical fan
>group as a whole.

>  From what I've seen, there's been little traffic in
>this group and most of it is people offering their opinions about how
>much they like or dislike something Kate Bush has done.  In my
>opinion, this doesn't seem to be condusive to sparking conversation.

   This would seem to indicate that you haven't been reading long.
Rec.music.gaffa is famed throughout the entire News hierarchy for
the quality and quantity of it's flamage.

>If I like some song and someone else hates it, there is no logical
>reason or justification why we have our opinions, nor need there be
>any. 

   Opinions without logical reasons or justification are prejudices.

> For me, the highest value of this group lies solely in the
>announcements about what album is coming out, when it will hit record
>stores and guest appearances on talk shows and the like.

   This information can be supplied in one message a week when Kate
is promoting an album, and one message a year between albums. Traffic
like that will result in "Bogus Newsgroup" messages from newsreaders.

>  The sound
>samples of Kate Bush's performance on that Aspel talk show were great,
>and I'd again like to thank all who were involved in that.  To me,
>that is the kind of thing I get out of this group: sound clips right
>from Kate Bush's mouth or newest CD so I can judge for myself whether
>I think it's worth my while hearing anything more.

   Make some, but if you post them be assured that you will get flamed
*far* beyond the very mild toasting I gave you by the folks who receive
Lovehounds via e-mail and start getting 50k+ digests.

   Have you read the FAQ?

>Unfortunately, there does seem to be at least one person on this group
>who seem rather bent on making their opinion law.

   If you can take such offence at a mild rebuke, you'll not last long
on gaffa. You stated your opinion. I disagreed and gave my reasons.
Others disagreed with me. If you think that's an attempt to impose
martial law...

   If you'd taken the trouble to read back a week of so, the vast
majority of my posts have been of the boring "supply the information"
sort. 

>  As if that take on
>some song is what counts and any other contrary opinion is pure trash.
>It's such a shame because putting others down really squelches any
>conversation or at least threads where people simply state their
>opinions.

   Define "conversation" in any way that excludes the stating of
differing opinions.

    I defer to  the opinions of others when I feel that their
knowledge of the subject is greater. Andy knows much more about the 
compositional aspects of Kate's music, and I will almost always defer
to him on those matters. Peter knows far more about the history of
Kate's career, and I will almost always defer to him on those matters.
Do I think their opinions are more valid? Yes.

  All opinions are not equally valid.

  Everyone has an equal *right* to *voice* an opinion, but to claim that
all opinions are equally valid makes the entire idea of education silly.
Why pay big bucks to get the opinions of professors, when you could ask
anyone on the street for free? My opinions about Heavy Metal have
*no* validity at all. No one should ever ask my opinion about Heavy
Metal. Given that I can accept that my opinions have varying levels
of validity, I believe everyone has opinions about many different
subjects, and that some of those opinions are going to be of variable
quality.

                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)
                                   katefans@chinet.chinet.com (ours)