[Buddha-l] Schopen gets a kicking

[Richard Hayes]

On Aug 3, 2009, at 6:18 PM, Joanna Kirkpatrick wrote:

> Alas--"Sorry, comments are closed for this item."

The item, however, still remains on line. It's just that no one can  
respond to it. I spent quite a bit of time writing an  
uncharacteristically carefully-worded and even somewhat polite comment  
before being told as I tried to send it that comments are closed for  
that item.

It may still be worth lodging a complaint with About.com about  
Barbara's violation of Buddhsit speech precepts. The folks who run  
about.com have not had a very good track record in finding someone  
responsible to represent Buddhism on that site. Barbara O'Brien  
describes herself as a former mainline Protestant Christian with a  
B.A. in journalism who has turned to Zen practice. I betcha Curt,  
given as he is to ad hominem arguments, would think she might be  
unqualified to assess the merits of an academic article on Buddhism  
written by a scholar who has more publications than an Arkansas hound  
dog has fleas. On the other hand, he might commend her for labeling  
(or is that libeling?) Professor Schopen as a crackpot with views that  
are clearly hallucinatory. And I'm sure we would all admire the  
entertainment value of seeing several commentators to her blog post  
decrying all academics as narcissistic egomaniacs who, because of that  
unfortunate condition, cannot possibly say anything insightful about  
Buddhism.

I sort of wish about.com would just give up trying to include Buddhism  
on the site. It is a commercial site that pays its way by "smart" ads.  
The few times I have gone to it, I have been treated to advertisements  
for Buddhist ring tones (I don't even know what the heck a ring tone  
is!), and scientific diet drinks that will help fat people shrink  
their bellies (There must be an algorithm for putting ads for diet  
aids on websites that mention Maitreya), and designer yoga pants (to  
out on after slimming down that fat belly while intoning a Buddhist  
ring). As an index of the current state of American culture,  
buddhism.about.com is right up there with the round-the-clock  
interviews of Michael Jackson's cook and his chauffeur's former  
veterinarian on prime time tellybision.

Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes
rhayes at unm.edu