For Harmon Seavor. Dear Harmon:

[Robert Holmgren]

Dear Harmon:

During the last hour, I've read -- for the first time, with real amazement and the deepest
disgust -- a whole month's worth of hate-filled, ad hominem attacks on you. In effect
(since you haven't posted in three weeks), you've been extirpated, purged, lynched. I'm
knotted up with loathing and emotion. Purportedly sane people have acted contemptibly, in
my opinion; and as the bandwagon got rolling, with its high 'entertainment-cum-meanness'
spirits, even unlikely moderating voices appear to have jumped on board.
Shame on them. What exactly is your crime? I enjoy, and often learn from, your wide-
angle comments. But even if I didn't, even if I agreed (which I don't) with the
accusation of condescension, your critics have been consistently censorious, attempting
(over and over) to dictate subject matter and tone, as if they were the arbiters of what
this community is
"about", of relevance or interest. Even suggesting unsuitability for your professional
work, on the sole basis that you don't format your off- premises observations (in this
forum) with a kindly, "helpful" sugarcoat!
An astonishing accusation, the more contemnible (than the preponderance of merely rude,
hysterical, juvenile bigmouths) because delivered in the guise of intellectual peer
criticism. One is sorely tempted to cite chapter and verse, and humiliate this mob, were
it not just a futile blood-boiling exercise. Better to tell their parents, or take away
their allowances. I hope we'll hear from you again soon.

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Robert Holmgren
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