Re: CHAT: Unsolicited abuse

James Campbell wrote:
> Interestingly, I've just received some hate-mail for Jameld. Some wiseacr=
e
> from Canada just wanted to tell me that "the whole thing is stupid, just
> like its creator."
>=20
> Oh well, in that case I'd better give up my lifelong hobby right away, if
> it's *stupid*.
>=20
> Beats me why they were looking at my website in the first place: after al=
l,
> the only links to it are from conlang directories, AFAIK. Needless to say=
, I
> hit DEL.
Well, the one common factor of all hate mail is that the sender has some
personal reason for sending it; generally it's far more relevant to the
emotional state of the person writing it than whatever it is he's writing a=
bout.
Hmm, whether conlanging is "stupid"?  Stupid, as opposed to more sensible
activities like, say, watching people run up and down a field trying to kic=
k a
ball into a net?  Drinking beer and swapping blonde jokes?  These would be =
more
ordinary and therefore less risky as far as popular opinion goes; "going wi=
th
the flow" has the obvious advantage that it minimizes the amount of critici=
sm
you will receive.  But there's also one really annoying thing about going w=
ith
the flow, and that's that so many other people have already gone with it --=
 the
flow, one feels, is lacking in originality to much the same degree as the
surface of the sun is lacking in iced beverages.  It seldom produces anythi=
ng
new or valuable.  And conlanging can be more purposeful than most people,
including many conlangers, would at first suppose; creating your own langua=
ge
gives you the freedom to analyze the world you live in in a completely "cle=
an"
and self-defined way.


and then Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
> I think that's something that happens to us all at some time - I remember
> I was chatting in a second-hand bookstore with the owner about conlangs
> when someone came along and started argue that since my languages
> couldn't be used for communcation, and the purpose of language is
> communication, what I did wasn't inventing languages, and that I was
> non compos for engaging in so silly a waste of time.
But that's not the only purpose, nor even a major consideration of most
conlangers.  And even if it were, who cares?  At the very worst it's a fun
waste of time like any other hobby.  At best it provides you with a novel w=
ay
of looking at the world which I for one have found extremely useful, both
philosophically and practically.


Josh


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