[1971] in Central_America
Re: New quotes for Sat Nov 11
sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Nov 14 07:24:52 1989
Give the people here a little credit, this hasn't become a flame
war (yet). Nobody is saying leira doesn't have a right to object, or
denying the validity of her feelings (that's Free Speech, also).
However, criticisms of some the of ideas contained in them are being
strongly voiced (which is in turn Free Speech - isn't it wonderful). The
references to "religious persecution" and swastikas were a bit
inflammatory, especially given the current political situation (Flag
burning, Arts grants, and closer to home, University "offensive speech"
policies and movie restrictions).
In terms of conflict resolution, I had it in mind to suggest
"Would it be OK if Wells displayed the pentagram upside-down?". If so,
then the G&S players would probably have been willing to making the
change, and everybody would have been happy. But the performances were
almost over by the time I wrote my reply, rendering that a moot idea.
More on pentagrams & pentagons: The relevance of these symbols to
conjuring can go much deeper than arbitrary association. Imagine a human
bound to a floor. Draw lines connecting the hands, feet, and head, and
the result is a pentagon. Or think of one of the Chrysler emblems (a
stylized figure in a pentagon). So the pentagon provides a somewhat
natural figure for the binding of entities. In addition, if you draw a
goat's head, exaggerating the horns, cheeks, and beard, the outline of
the figure will be very nearly an open pentagram.
