And one is the – to me – rather strange fact the highest echelons of the SBL are more upset by the word ‘sausage’ than other words in Roland Boer’s paper that are, to me, far more provocative.
I’m not really sure why Roland’s paper has been singled out. Anyone who has ever gone through the SBL program book has seen titles that aren’t only just ‘different’ but downright bizarre. And as far as I’m concerned, more offensive.
Roland’s methodology is to- at least in part – provoke discussion by the use of inneundo. Had the head of the SBL simply either ignored Roland’s title or written intentionally privately (by saying something like ‘this is in confidence’) then the entire episode never would have been an episode at all.
Still, I’m glad all the behind the scenes maneuverings are out in the open. Now we know what goes on in Atlanta when the annual meeting is being planned and what our membership fees go for- employing staff who can scan paper titles which have already been selected for presentation by session chairs in order to uncover potentially provocative words that ought to be cut out… at least so far as one or two persons are concerned.
Zwinglius Redivivus 
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The fact that the executive director of the SBL wanted it all kept private is evidence that he knew how moronic, unacademic and unprofessional the request was. And Roland can not ‘exaggerate’ an email which he has posted – he could only ‘exaggerate’ if he described it untruthfully without posting it in full. And how does one ‘mockingly’ post an email? He posted a mockable email which we mocked as only it deserved to be mocked. The whole affair is regrettably ridiculous and John Kutsko ought to be replaced.
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i agree that they handled it badly- but i think john ought to keep the helm.
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why? Is there nobody who could handle the position with a more academic and professional manner? He’s a total embarrassment to the entire discipline.
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ah anybody can make a blunder. heck, i do daily. 😉
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that’s right, and he should have acknowledged that in his reply to Roland with an apology instead of the silly childish whining complaint that Roland was ‘mockingly’ and ‘exaggerating’ which in context were illogical as I pointed out above. At the very least he should apologise now. 😀 It’s embarrassing, and no more than fodder for the troughs of the academic despisers.
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