Date: Mon, 03 Jun 1996 08:26:02 -0400
To: Athena Discuss 
Subject: Re: Otabil and rhetoric

I disagree with Vdismas@aol.com when she suggests that Mr. Otabil's
meaning remained obscured by his style.  On first reading, maybe;
but not after a second reading.  The examples which purport to
demonstrate her contentions fail completely in my opinion.
I give only one example, because the others don't get much better,
and I would hate to detract from the pointedness of Mr. Otabil's
post by getting sidetracked into interminable nit-picking over
the meaning of every colorful phrase:

Vdismas@aol.com wrote:

>      For example, in his post of 96-05-29 16:37:27, Mr. Otabil states:
>  "'Debt', however, rides a moral brief, since the entailed question comes
> with a damage suit of sorts, a suit aimed at rectification. 'Debt' thus reads
> like a euphemism for `theft', and the euphemism itself adds moral force to
> the question of debt; particularly, to how and where the question is posed,
> and more tellingly, to how and where it is answered? Factor in the diffuse
> retinue to 'Black Athena', and you have a pretty sordid affair of conscience.
> By `retinue' I mean the rally against organized plunder (`stolen legacy'),
> doctored mendacity (read, academic and hegemonic sophistry), and other
> intellectual mortal sins which the Academy forswears in principle. Remember,
> too, that these times are abuzz with
> `reparations talk this side of the Atlantic.  Though the talk is no immediate
> kin to the debt, it does lend the latter moral grist."  While this passage
> contains a number of fuzzy ares, I will examine only a few.
>       I'm not clear what debt the author is speaking of.  Is it a monetary
> figure?  Does it have any relevance to the debt?  

Where has Vdismas been?  The "debt" is what this list was set up to
discuss, and is implicit in the title "Black Athena", and implicitly
denied in "Not out of Africa".


>      Mr. Otabil is correct in assuming that style lends interest to writing.
>  A metaphor sustained throughout an essay enriches the entire essay.  But
> style is not the real issue here.  Substance and meaning are.

Exactly.  So, let's deal with it.  My comments about style were aimed
precisely at moving beyond that, and were only in response to Kaufman 
and Meadows, who seemed to want to make style the issue. 

Regards,

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