Some think he's a loon; others praise his confident and unapologetic
points of view.  Is he a lone voice of reason that crieth in the empirical
wilderness? Or will Darwin's observation ring true: "Ignorance more
frequently begets confidence than does knowledge...." With the occasional
discussions about Don Vroon's editorials in ARG, I've decided to make some
observations about his latest in the March/April edition.  The following is
what I believe to be an accurate and fair summary, though I urge interested
listers to read the entire editorial for themselves.

After a (very tedious) discourse regarding the socially insulating
qualities of phone screener gadgets, answering machines and the like,
Don proposes that his observations are relevant to Classical Music by
pointing out that such technology could actually be contributing to its
death.  Here's how: he identifies these gadgets as enabling agents,
contributing to an overall "culture of evasiveness" that he believes is
the cause of widespread intellectual stagnation.  According to Don, we
loath confrontation - as evidenced by his observation that we don't even
have the courage to answer our phones directly anymore - and without the
assertiveness to confront, there can be no chance for intellectual growth.
In his conclusion, Don challenges us to talk with our friends more - to be
less evasive, less fearful of lively argument, and in the process we will
re-capture our ability to think.  Once we become more intelligent, CM will
have more of a chance to survive.

Some thoughts.

On intelligence: I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I have
my doubts that intelligence is a pre-requisite for the appreciation of
CM.  The qualities that can make one more favorably disposed towards
intelligence - open-mindedness, whimsy, imagination, curiosity and the
ability to concentrate to name a few - are the same qualities that can
make one poised to appreciate CM.  There may be a correlation between
intelligence and appreciation of CM, but intelligence isn't necessarily the
cause for appreciation.  For all his talk about learning how to think, Mr.
Vroon may have made a common mistake that Carl Sagan in his book, "The
Demon-Haunted World," calls "confusion of correlation and causation."

On telecommunication gadgets, evasiveness and intellectual stagnation:
It's curious that Don would choose our relationship with telecommunication
technology as the spring-board for his argument.  Though the perceived
relationship conveniently lends itself as an underlying metaphor for the
old, hackneyed "evils of the politically correct" debate, such rehashing,
(if that was Don's aim), is hardly compelling enough to excuse the
tenuousness of his surface logic.  (IMHO)

If anything, it's our audio/visual technology that insulates, or more
specifically isolates the listener.  In Vol.  V of Proust's and Vincent's
"History of Private Life," the editors point out that advanced audio
technology has not only allowed society access to unprecedented amounts
of info and entertainment, it has also allowed for increasingly *private*
access at any time and any place.  I would have at least understood Don's
reasoning, regarding intellectual stagnation, if he had focused on the
potentially isolating effects of audio technology and raised concerns
that--seduced with the endless cascade of information and entertainment
available to us all the time--many of us no longer set aside any time,
alone or with friends, to reflect upon what we have already taken in.  This
is why I perhaps spend less time interacting with my peers than I should;
it's not because I loath confrontation of the salutary sort; it's because
I can't tear myself away from further exploration - and I'm not sure that
this is a bad thing.

And if I had a nickel for every time someone chose the seductive ring of
the telephone over my riveting conversation....

John Smyth