cultural stereotypes

[Tatiana Osipovich]

Dear Prof. Patterson,
I have already sent my apology to Prof. Rosset for referring to her
initial e-mail in my message about stereotyping Russians. I am very happy
that she cleared her name. While I wish that we would all learn to avoid
mistakes in forwarding our electronic messages, I truly hope that we will
not receive any more emails like the one which was the subject of my
concern.
Sincerely,
Tatiana Osipovich

On Tue, 13 Aug 2002, Rodney Patterson wrote:

> I was shocked to see Professor Rosset accused of "supporting and circulating
> cultural stereotypes" when in fact she was proposing a poetry panel.  I
> think that some of us get "trigger happy" with email; it is so easy to fire
> off a few angry words electronically in answer to someone else's email that
> sometimes we forget to study exactly what it is we're blowing off steam
> about.  In olden days, when one had to hunt up a pen, paper, stamp and an
> envelope, carry a letter to a post office or box, etc., one usually had time
> to cool off and think twice.  To comment judiciously and fairly on others'
> messages now requires more discipline and restraint.
>
> I'm sure that most of us who are at least minimally fluent in Russian and
> have spent more than a month or two getting used to cultural differences,
> are easily annoyed by people who, having once fallen afoul of a bad-tempered
> clerk, a thief, etc., make ridiculously unfair generalizations about Russia.
>   It seems to me, incidentally, that the original cautionary letter was not
> blameworthy; one needs to take the same precautions in any big city.
>
> Most of my memories of my considerable time in Russia and the very fine
> people I knew there are so strongly positive that I can hardly wait to
> return.
>
> Rodney L. Patterson
> State University of New York at Albany
>
>
>
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