Back and forth.
Well, perhaps not really a series, considering this is only the second installment,
and at present I don't envision that they'll continue. So I guess that it's more
of a ping-point volley than a series. Let's say that it's an exchange I carried
on with myself between the two poles that attracted me in my aging audience
member's complaint - that of understanding her position, and that of finding it
laughable. Ordinarily I have no difficulty permitting at least two points of view
to coexist within one Boidem column. This time, however, perhaps due to the almost
comic vehemence of this woman's reaction to the web, I found myself polarized,
pulled into an either/or situation. And once I found myself in such a situation,
it seemed to make sense to let it run its courses, to allow each to coexist as
separate but equal, with each side having its uninterrupted say, without even
trying to create an impression, or perhaps an illusion, of taking sides.
Of course once I was able to let that happen, to let each side express itself
on its own terms, I found that those sides retreated from the brink of black and
white that I at first felt they were forcing upon me, and even when I tried to
stop them, numerous shades of gray crept into the picture. Frankly, I would have
preferred to have kept these out, to have allowed the game of either/or to remain
polarized. But I'm quite sure I haven't succeeded - the tendency of the Boidem
to entertain numerous points of view simultaneously just didn't want to let me
maintain this separation as I would have liked.
Go to: It's nothing personal.