Hullo List, I've been a bit busy lately making crappy lithographs and organizing a portfolio and such things. So I caught up on my mail today, and I found something that disturbed me to no end... I'm going to attempt to reference the tempestuous Miss Carmen's message without discussing the list content part of it. and so she writes....

And who needs virtual cyber friends anyway? If you can't make friends with living, breathing people in the flesh, then you have problems. I enjoy communicating with fellow B&S fans, but I don't think a good, meaningful friendship could possibly be made through typing simple words.

I can't believe this statement is coming from someone who is less than 80 years old. I've been on internet-like types of communications for about 6 years now, and the stigma associated with those who meet friends and (gasp) lovers by means other than the traditional is unbelieveable, as I'm sure you will all realize from reading posts like this. The internet is a new thing, and so people will naturally be afraid or disdainful of its effects on society, but knowing this doesn't make statements like these seem any less judgemental or hurtful. First of all, there is a stigma attached that people who make friends through the internet can't make friends off of it. And I suppose that there may be some people like that, but for the most part it's just not true. I wouldn't call myself a popular guy, but I think I'm pretty personable off the internet, and I have friends off of it. In certain cases I have become very good friends with people I met by normal means who have friends they met through the internet. This didn't mean that they were socially misshapen, and they were in all cases quite nice friends. And another thing, I've kept in touch with friends that I met off the internet with the internet, once we moved away from one another, and I can tell you that it doesn't diminish our friendships in any way. And if you lot think people rudely make generalizations about those with "virtual cyberfriends" nowadays, you should have been around 6 years ago. At least now there are a lot of us, so it doesn't seem so strange to most. I recall a time when all drugs & youth problems seemed attributed to internet-using ravers. Hah. Argh, and that statement about making good, meaningful friends, oh that just had me up in arms. Look, more than one member of Belle & Sebastian have met people who were more than friends by writing "simple words," to them, and you should buy that Looper single and listen to it until you realize how natural a thing this is. To me Belle & Sebastian seems a band that cherishes the written word, and I think you're completely wrong about making friends without seeing them or hearing their voice. In fact, I believe that instead of those with cyberfriends being somehow socially inept in some way, that it is really the other way 'round. People like Carmen are, in my opinion, the only ones who are actually socially inept, because they are incapable of meeting friends outside of the traditional realm. I feel very sorry for you, Carmen, that your view of the world is so close-set that you deny yourself the friendship of so many. For my part, I feel that many of the friends I made through the internet are as good of friends as the ones I met off of it, and sometimes better. I hope my expressing these opinions doesn't offend anyone, but being stigmatized makes me feisty. I am now pausing to see if I should really send this, but I still feel like I'm not making a huge mistake. Right, on to the rest of the message... *steps down from his soapbox* I did manage to meet someone outside of the internet who had heard of B&S last night. I was printing some things, when the fellow next to me put Arab Strap in the stereo (the band, not the album). He apparently doesn't like B&S after a couple listens of TWITCHYBATS, but I recommended that he give them more of a chance, as I did, and look where it got me. I was also very impressed today with Corporea's lovely interpretation of "Me & the Major." I had considered some of the themes, but I never heard it put so eloquently. *applauds* Also notable was Nanettee's (is that like a Manatee? =) eloquent defense (or defence) of "virtual cyberfriends." Hehe, just that phrase is really amusing to me. Like some kind of 90's buzzword. Well, this post has gotten long enough. And I'm expecting my friend Marge to call me soon, and we're going for coffee, and SHE DOESN'T EVEN USE THE INTERNET!! OH MY GOD!!! Lithographing and Loving ;) /"\_/"\_/"\ Mick McMick - bp224995@ohiou.edu - ICQ#5056758 \ / Sandcastle Records - (same e-mail for now) | | Sandcastle Homepage - | | http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Amphitheatre/4972/ | | "I am always wishing to make people | | in the world happy with my smiles." | | - Mr. Friendly +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+