tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 26 12:12:14 1996
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Re: Criticism
- From: "Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Criticism
- Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 12:12:14 -0700
Ken Traft writes:
> I have gotten some feed back (discounting Glen Proechel) that the KLI is only
> 7 or 8 people who are intolerant of anything, but their own opinion. I try
> not to let these influence my judgement, but I don't discount it I may fall
> prey to it occasionally. I have always tried to be my own person and look at
> things as phenomenomologically (I love bracketing the world). I am human so
> fall short of my ultimate goals.
Pardon me, but you made me smile while in one sentence mentioning people
intolent of anything but their own opinions and the next where you try not to
let such things influence your own judgement.
Some people may take offense at your post, and before anyone rushs to my side to
defend my honor, let me say that I appreciate Ken's bravery at posting such a
statement. He and I have a history of disagreement between us, but I am
delighted to say that it has never gotten ugly; we just don't usually agree. I
think we do manage to "hear" one another though, which I believe has been
helpful (at least, it has for me).
Setting aside the "intolerance" issue for the moment, let me do a head count of
the "inner circle" at the KLI.
1) me, Lawrence Schoen, KLI founder and director, and editor of HolQeD;
2) Krankor, Grammarian, and in many ways the spirit of the KLI;
3) Mark Shoulson, also a Grammarian and the designer of our web site;
4) Duffy Dobelbower, formerly RT compiler as well as a past Beginner's
Grammarian;
5) Randall Franklin, also a past BG as well as a past editor of jatmey;
6) d'Armond Speers, current RT compiler, past BG, and an editor of jatmey;
7) Will Martin, past BG;
8) David Barron, KLI Education officer and creator of the postal course;
9) David Sturm, Coordinator of the ECP;
10) Sarah Ekstrom, Coordinator of the KSRP;
11) Kevin Wilson, Coordinator of the KBTP;
12) Jay Grizzard, System Adminstrator here @kli.org;
not to mention the literally dozens of other people who are working on one or
more of the projects listed, who serve as reviewers for the articles submitted
to HolQeD, or take the time to provide lengthy and insightful postings to this
list (people such as Mark Mandel, Andrew Strader, and Nick Nicholas spring
immediately to mind, and my profound apologies to anyone who I may have
inadvertently left out). One thing that ought to be noted, is that I don't
always agree with any of these people (and I'm sure they don't all always agree
with one another), and yet we manage to keep the trains running on time.
As with any organization, the KLI has a small group of people who do most of the
really visible work on the one hand, and a much larger portion of members who
benefit from the efforts of the former. When the situation works right, people
slowly move from the large group into the small, working their way "up the
ladder" so to speak.
As examples of this we have the various Beginner Grammarians of the last year.
These are people who were not otherwise KLI officers or project coordinators,
who had been identified as proficient in the language and who put their skills
at the disposal of the larger community by agreeing to serve a term as BG.
Likewise, one purpose (and I admit it's a sneaky one) of the qep'a' is to bring
more people into that inner circle, to build up greater numbers of proficient
Klingonists who understand and share the goals of the KLI. This then allows us
the manpower to pursue additional projects.
How can I respond to the question of intolerance? I like to think that I try to
be open to opposing views (Ken and I have exchanged some very lengthly letters
during the last year or so), but like you, being mortal, I enter into
discussions with a bias that I'm right. So, while I am certainly not always
persauded by someone's argument, I do believe that I go out of my way to hear
that person's point of view and try to understand the merits of it. My position
has always been that we cannot afford division of such a small community, and to
try to compromise where possible to prevent such division. Only the Klingon
community itself can judge how well (or not) I've managed to do this.
Lawrence
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director :: The KLI is a nonprofit ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute :: tax exempt corporation ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA :: DaH HuchlIj'e' ghonob ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: [email protected] :: http://www.kli.org :: 215/836-4955 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director :: The KLI is a nonprofit ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute :: tax exempt corporation ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA :: DaH HuchlIj'e' ghonob ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: [email protected] :: http://www.kli.org :: 215/836-4955 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::