I wrote: >thanks for your comments [Fred], which definitely help raise the intellectual level >on pen-l. The last time I discussed this issue, the discussion developed to
>a stage where one individual asserted that my "politics stink." Luckily, it >got to that low level only off-list.... In response, Rakesh Bandhari writes on pen-l: jim, this is childish, i was being silly; i also called you a scaredy cat--does this sound like serious charges were being made. stinky, scaredy cat--these are not abusive terms. you insisted that we have this debate offlist; now you are forwarding out of context remarks to the list. and if we are going to do this, why don't you tell the whole list how you were spreading the rumor that rajani kanth is paranoid to me. of course you said that you were above such backbiting, but there you were letting me in on gossip about a person i don't even know. Since I find the benefit of reading Rakesh's comments to be exceeded by the cost (due to his insistence on making everything so personal, as with "this is childish"), I make a practice of ignoring them. However, since the above is clearly untrue and misrepresents my views and practices, it requires two major corrections: 1) I did not mention Rakesh by name on pen-l, when I referred to the irrelevant & bizarre assertion that my "politics stink," so I was NOT mentioning his comments "out of context." Since his comment was off-list, only he knew that his comments were abusive and anti-intellectual in this way. 2) As for the rumor about Rajani Kanth, I did NOT let Rakesh "in on gossip." Rather, I made it very clear to Rakesh that what I said was a rumor and that _therefore_ I didn't put any faith in it. (Even when unfounded, a rumor is a real social phenomenon and can be relevant to intelligent discussion.) It is Rakesh who is now bringing up this rumor out of context. In any event, I made it very clear to Rakesh that I actually know Kanth and that he didn't seem paranoid to me. Having talked to him again in Atlanta (on Friday), I am totally convinced that the rumor is totally bogus. He's as sane as any economist I know. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
