It does seem to me that there is a basic difference between
discussing the death penalty (or any other topic) as it
appears in or relates to fiction and discussing it purely as
an issue in the real world. I'm not saying one's better or
worse than the other -- it's not -- but there are different
places where each is appropriate.
If this were a mailing list about cooking, and people used it
to compare recipes, discuss cooking techniques, share menus,
review restaurants and chefs, etc., and someone started a
protracted diatribe about cruelty to animals, would that be
appropriate? It would be a perfectly reasonable topic to
discuss -- but not in that location, since that's not the
purpose of that discussion group.
Similarly, a protracted discussion of the Anthony Pellicano
case would not (I think) be appropriate on Rara-Avis -- he's
a detective, but he's not a detective in *fiction*, which is
what we're here to talk about. Now, if someone wrote a novel
about Pellicano, fine; if someone said, "What novels resemble
the Pellicano case?" fine; if someone wanted to talk about
books that raise issues similar to those raised in the
Pellicano case, fine. But to just talk about a non- fictional
case itself, at length, for message after message after
message, with nary a reference to fiction along the way? I
doubt I'm the only person here who finds that annoying and
disruptive. It's a conversation I might well be interested in
taking part in somewhere else -- but not here.
Just my 2 cents, obviously, and if the broad sentiment is
otherwise, so be it. But this is not what I, at least, come
to Rara-Avis for.
--Charles
P.S. To avoid any misunderstanding, I am not complaining at
all about the *content* of anyone's comments. It's not that I
am offended by one or the other sides in the death penalty
debate, or that I am bothered by the discussion of sensitive
topics, or anything of the sort. I only object to polluting a
crime fiction list with an extended discussion of a topic
other than crime fiction. Talk about the *connection* between
fiction and the real world all you want -- but when you start
talking *only* about the real world, you're doing in the
wrong place.
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Michael Robison
<miker_zspider@...> wrote:
>
> Curt Purcell wrote:
>
> So does brutal interrogation, but I hardly see the
hot
> lights and rubber hoses of a Gold Medal classic as
an
> appropriate jumping-off point for a debate
about
> Abu-Ghraib or Gitmo. Why? Because fiction
is
> fiction. It's make-believe, no matter how
"realistic"
> it pretends to be. That's why I read it.
>
> ***************
> Not much I can say to this. To me, the
connection
> that fiction has to the real world is what makes
it
> vital and relevant.
>
> miker
>
>
__________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 24 Oct 2007 EDT