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From: nsmith@eskimo.com (Noel Smith)
Subject: Re: Two-Dimensional Writing (was: Re: Math as pornography)
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References: <4or50s$aeq@news.kincyb.com> <4os5ac$jee@panix2.panix.com> <4pl66g$lvp@tera.eng.sc.rolm.com> <4pnmnc$87j@panix2.panix.com> <4psdua$2ds@dns.city-net.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 19:46:01 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.skeptic:181562 sci.lang:55810

vagans@inanna.eanna.org (Sourcerer) wrote:

>In article <4pnmnc$87j@panix2.panix.com>, Gordon Fitch <gcf@panix.com> wrote:

>>rogerw@tera.eng.sc.rolm.com (Roger M. Wilcox):
>>| Then again, GUIs weren't created for the express purpose of getting the
>>| literary phallus out of the listener's ear. 

>>| (Is that a banana in your ear, or are you just glad to see me?)

Gordon:
>>How about getting the monetary phallus out of the user's
>>pocket?  I've speculated to myself that the great, heh,
>>thrust towards GUIs had a great deal to do with a well-
>>known (if somewhat debatable) difference between males and
>>females in regard to text and pictures.
[...]
>>See, want, grab;
>>not see, want, talk something into giving it to you.

Sourcerer:
>So, the truculent and enigmatic geeks' preference for the commandline,
>rather than expressing commitment to brusque, manly things, is in fact
>a subtle confirmation of Otherness and their feminine side.

Things Are Not As They Seem . . .

Gordon:
>>Would it not make sense, then, to get away from annoying
>>text and into a symbolic medium more suited to the men?
>>Whereas I, a femmie and left-handed character even though
>>a male, find them annoying and obstructive.  

>In the right forum, this has odds of replacing the vi/emacs wars as a
>hot topic.

Gordon's tendency to apply Deep Interpretation to what's going on
(usually in terms of Hegemonic Capitalism) is sometimes difficult to
distinguish from a disposition to conspiracy theory paranoia.

Who else could feel oppressed by the GUI?

But I suppose I'd feel disappointed, actually, if he wasn't.

> Sourcerer

- Noel


