Hello everyone: I've been very sad to hear about all the mutter and flufferings about the list, and that some people may be leaving because we have heard two sides to the story, two extreme sides, and a couple of reactions to which. But I wanted to make some suppositions. I don't know if there is anyone to blame for all of this, the only thing I could blame is Negativity and Faithlessness. Faithlessness that the list will become boring, which, obviously, has not been of late, with much philosophizing on romanticism and shyness and things. and negativity because people choose to see other people as having bad intentions. and do they really? I can't imagine ex-listees having anti-list sentiment that would be really worth anyone's consideration. I'm sure they mean no harm towards anyone personally, and perhaps have what the Buddhists would call "wrong view". I tend to believe that the reason why people get upset, or negative, is because of a misunderstanding of the way of things, and that being upset or negative creates these hard, unwavering criticisms of people on the list, et cetera. Basically, i think i am trying to say that people are being unwise. in all sorts of ways. I do, however, think that having a select, unelected group of people determining the way of the list can be stifling. I used to live in a cooperative, that was so dedicated to an extremely liberal way of life, very hippie, they used to have white sugar wars in "the good old days" but when new people came in, a new breed, there was a lot of negativity in the house, which completely ruined the ideals of the house in the long run. Hippieness became an "image" more than a way of life, and everyone felt bad because they couldn't live up to them. The house has lost all it's flavor. Look what's happened to the Catholic Church: all these people losing touch with an outdated way. I think maybe it would be a good idea if we came up with a list of rules that could be agreed upon by everyone, and maybe come up with a cleaner, better way for honey to seek out advice. or at least trust that the honey filters out bad and good advice, eschews back-handed criticism, et cetera. with the idea that the list is a changing thing, and everyone must stay open and positive. I personally don't blame honey, i think everyone makes mistakes. lesley jo said: the romantics and symbolists found emotion and esthetic more important than giving a moral message, or depicting in photographic/scientific reality--they preferred to draw from mythology, and simply make things that were exotic, splendid and beautiful to look at. someone might say it's morally empty---i dont 'see it like that at all. it's art for the sake of itself. I think that all art has a spiritual basis, and spirit and morals go hand in hand. one must have spirit to have morals. Music has the power to soften the heart and open the way to right understanding. Morally empty? I should say not. no music lacks a political and social stance, be it positive or negative. Music can be morally empty, but it comes from a lack of vision from the musician. Avante garde, folk music, whatever, matters little the genre. We listen to music, and we hear the heart of the musician. some people have more soul than others. Accusations of a genre of having merit this way or that, falls by the wayside wehn we are blown away by the spirit of the musician. Bjork succeeds because she has the sould of a banshee. {insert plug for the mysticism of sound and music, by hazrat inayat khan from the Sinister book club.} Cynthia _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+