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holzman_tweed...and, alas, the stereotype about fen needing it is all to true.
As an auditor, my job is to listen ("audit" means "listen") to my auditees and determine what the story is. A frequent criticism of a poor audit report is that it doesn't tell "the real story." (Insert Stephen R. Donaldson reference here.) Finding and pointing out the real story is a skill that translates to other parts of life. For example...
When a writer exposes an editor of a supposedly respectable publication for using racist language in his professional communications, the real story is not that the writer published "private" mail. The real story is that an editor at a supposedly respectable publication used racist language in his professional communications, sullying his reputation and that of any publication that employs him.
When an editor for a supposedly respectable publication who is exposed for using racist language in his professional communications calls foul because someone exposed his racism, the real story is not that a "private" e-mail was published. The real story is that an editor at a supposedly respectable publication tried to use his preferred social customs to hide the fact that he used racist language in his professional communications, further sullying his reputation and that of any publication that employs him.
When editors from other supposedly respectable publications criticize the writer for exposing that editor , the real story is not that a "private" e-mail was published. The real story is that Editors of supposedly respectable publications are providing cover for an editor who used racist language in his professional communications, sullying their reputations and that of any publication that employs them."
Shame on them all.
As an auditor, my job is to listen ("audit" means "listen") to my auditees and determine what the story is. A frequent criticism of a poor audit report is that it doesn't tell "the real story." (Insert Stephen R. Donaldson reference here.) Finding and pointing out the real story is a skill that translates to other parts of life. For example...
When a writer exposes an editor of a supposedly respectable publication for using racist language in his professional communications, the real story is not that the writer published "private" mail. The real story is that an editor at a supposedly respectable publication used racist language in his professional communications, sullying his reputation and that of any publication that employs him.
When an editor for a supposedly respectable publication who is exposed for using racist language in his professional communications calls foul because someone exposed his racism, the real story is not that a "private" e-mail was published. The real story is that an editor at a supposedly respectable publication tried to use his preferred social customs to hide the fact that he used racist language in his professional communications, further sullying his reputation and that of any publication that employs him.
When editors from other supposedly respectable publications criticize the writer for exposing that editor , the real story is not that a "private" e-mail was published. The real story is that Editors of supposedly respectable publications are providing cover for an editor who used racist language in his professional communications, sullying their reputations and that of any publication that employs them."
Shame on them all.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-11 07:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-11 01:08 pm (UTC)Editor thinks he's talking to a kindred spirit and exposes his belligerently ignorant bias. Editor gets outed and should be shamed, but in the weird logic of shaming in what passes for our civic society, the shamed person gets to point out the shameful missteps of everyone shaming him. Even when his shameful act vastly outweighs theirs.
That's the pathetic part, and it's decidedly part of our culture these days. It's in corporate culture, where the person who just embezzled funds gets to point out the CFO is raising his voice; in street culture, where the person who just dented your car gets to fake being angry because you point at them; and in our TV culture, where the guy who slept with his girlfriend's sister gets to point out how his girlfriend badmouths that sister.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-11 02:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-11 05:46 pm (UTC)What really creeps me out is that it wasn't even the sort of coded dog-whistle language that a person aware of how polite society functions might do, with built-in "plausible" deniability. It was a full-on uncloaked hate screed the likes of which I'd expect to see only in neo-Nazi publications. I have never worked at any job, in any company, where someone could go off like that and not be fired so fast they'd leave skid marks (nor would I want to). Yet he seems completely blissfully ignorant of what a giant turd he's just deposited in his profession's punchbowl. If someone tries to explain to him what the problem is, he just blames it on the dog.