[Mb-hair] also it would be nice if people commenting on the60sactually remem

[Little Birdie]

Richard,

I am afraid I must disagree strongly with your assertion that those who 
remember the sixties, or have seen the original production are more 
qualified to speak on these issues. By that logic I, being older than you 
and having seen the original production many more times than you, and having 
even been in it way back when, would be more qualified than you to have an 
opinion here. Obviously I do not have more of a right to my opinion than you 
do - we all are qualified to speak to what makes Hair work for us. That 
someone doesn't remember the sixties, or only remembers it slightly, does 
not make their opinion any more or less valid than those who were there 
then. I saw the original production hundreds of times  - eight times a week 
when I worked as the concession girl. Does that make my opinion more 
important? Does my having been in the show in 1973 make it even more so? In 
my humble opinion it does not.

There is another point you make (in a different email, but I speak to it 
here to conserve bandwidth) that I feel I must comment on. You say:

>i am not being hostile and i dont care for how whenever someone dissents it 
>is interpreted as hostility

I truly do not agree with you that people here respond to any disagreement 
by interpreting it as hostility. While I completely understand that you do 
not feel that your way of dialoging is hostile, I know that this problem 
comes up with such regularity that I hope you can come to accept that people 
here do interpret your style of disagreement as hostile. I accept that you 
do not feel that you were being hostile, but if you are going to be a member 
of a group you have to find a way to respect the general values of that 
group, whether you agree with them or not. So while I accept that you do not 
feel that the way your disagree with people is hostile I would encourage you 
to accept that in the general value system of this group your style of 
writing feels hostile to many of us. There is no judgment inherent in this - 
we are not wrong for feeling this, and you are not wrong for feeling you are 
not hostile. But if you want to be a member of this group you will need to 
communicate your thoughts in a way that isn't interpreted as argumentative 
by the group. In certain cultures things that we wouldn't think twice about 
doing are considered very rude. If you were traveling in a different culture 
I would hope that you would make an effort to adapt your behavior to the 
societal rules of that culture. Think of this as a situation like that. Even 
if you feel that we are completely wrong to interpret you as hostile I 
encourage you to write in a style that opens discussion instead of causing 
argument.

I have made every effort to write about these things in a way that stresses 
that this is only my opinion. Please note that I understand that you feel 
you do nothing wrong in these situations. Please show me (and others) the 
respect that I have tried to show you in this post. For instance: By all 
means tell Jim why you feel it is better to update certain portions of Hair, 
and allow him to tell you why he disagrees. But when you turn it into a 
discussion of why your opinion is more valid than his that tends to be 
interpreted as hostile, and I ask as the moderator here that you don't post 
things like that.

Nina

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