[Vision2020] Proposed debate

[Rob Keenan]

Am I just really tired or did I miss the details of this particular debate?

A diatribe over copyright notices does not a scholarly debate make.

ROB

> From: Douglas <dougwils@moscow.com>
> Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2003 16:07:45 -0800
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Proposed debate
> 
> Visionaries,
> 
> In my newspaper column a week or so ago, I concluded by inviting Drs.
> Quinlan and Ramsey to debate. Not hearing anything back from them, I
> emailed them privately last week to reiterate the offer. After making that
> second offer I have not heard back either.
> 
> I must now take an interesting (and perhaps courageous) step. At the top of
> their paper is the most interesting copyright notice I have ever seen.
> After the normal copyright dealies, it says, "Please do not cite, quote,
> summarize, or otherwise reproduce without permission of the authors." Not
> being a professional historian myself, I am unfamiliar with this kind of
> restriction. I was somewhat surprised that they did not also include "or
> refer to the existence of" as one of the restrictions.
> 
> Here is the courageous step. I am now going to quote from their paper, and
> I did not get permission. On the second page, the writers say that it "is
> imperative, therefore, that real historical scrutiny be focused on this
> unusual performance." I agree! Well, here is a golden opportunity for
> professional historians to focus some more real historical scrutiny on my
> little putt-putt scholarship.
> 
> This being the case, why the silence? Perhaps there is an explanation to be
> found in Ambrose Bierce's incomparable Devil's Dictionary.
> 
> Valor, n. A soldierly compound of vanity, duty and the gambler's hope.
> "Why have you halted?" roared the commander of a division at Chickamauga,
> who had ordered a charge; "move forward, sir, at once."
> "General," said the commander of the delinquent brigade, "I am persuaded
> that any further display of valor by my troops will bring them into
> collision with the enemy."
> 
> 
> Cordially,
> 
> Douglas Wilson
> 
> P.S. Chickamauga was a battle in the War of the Roses, although
> professional historians take a different view.
> 
> 
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????
>