Tom Murphy
@brtom.bsky.social
751 followers 1.3K following 4.2K posts
Made in Illinois. "Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim." btocarm.substack.com brtom.org
Made in Illinois. "Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim." btocarm.substack.com brtom.org
![August 30, 2019
So I find this small exchange at Twitter:
Auntie Shepherd: Dad alas did not have time to talk for long but he thought me canceling Thoreau was hilarious. And he said Robert Frost was very careful about managing his reputation, probably because Frost was "an unpleasant person. Just read a biography."
lapaysanne: A friend of mine knows Wendell Berry and his wife. An icon of Ag lit.
Says he is a cretin and misogynist. [emoji] figures.
Not sure where to begin with this. Of course it bothers me, but why?
Because it strikes at some exalted sense may wish to have of the glory of Wendell Berry? (maybe 10% of my reaction)
Because it bashes the character of a person whom the speaker has never met in real life? (50%)
Because it relies on a third-party's judgment of that person ("A friend of mine...) and thus provides a weak cover of deniability: "I'm not saying it, but a friend of mine said ..." (10%)
Because "lapaysanne" uncritically repeats a term such as "cretin" without any clear understanding of what the word actually means? (20%)
Because "who knows Wendell Berry and his wife" suggests more than a passing acquaintance by this "friend." And this suggests that some high-level, adolescent backstabbing by this "friend" is being passed on by another friend ... all with the apparent aim of character assassination. (10%)
Okay. It's easy to chuckle over "canceling Thoreau," an easy target dead these past 155 years. But it's something else when the target is a living person. I understand that this is Just So Typical of how things roll on social media, but it's also what makes me nauseous about social media. At no apparent cost to themselves, some folks seem eager to exact a great cost from others— their good names.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ozwmxfsrr2bclrxsc6sbi6mk/bafkreifeuhgi7ecrlf5f4lvtmenzvmrlbdemul25pq4umoxfcymgsbfs2e)
