Argument by Insult

Albrecht Schneider's reply to Christensen (Ethnomusicology 22:476-479) touches vital interests of our entire membership and should not be allowed to pass without vigorous protest. There is no doubt that Mr. Schneider is entitled to publicly argue his defense against Christensen's review of the book Musikwissenschaft und Kulturkreislehre. Whether he is unconditionally entitled to do so in the pages of Ethnomusicology is very questionable; there are quite a few learned periodicals which, as a matter of principle, do not print refutations and other arguments of critical reviews if the letter writer is the reviewed author himself or his publisher. (Exceptions are occasionally made if the writer is a neutral third party who voices serious objections against the reviewer's findings). The reasons for such editorial policies are obvious: it may be a journal's only method to escape from a situation where for every page of critical reviewing two pages of angry argument are demanded by furious authors. The alternative of dispensing altogether with critical reviews is usually unacceptable to the readership. Furthermore the position is justified that any author submitting his work for critical review may have to put up with an unfavorable report. Ethnomusicology, so far, has generously kept its pages open to replies by dissatisfied authors, but it can continue this policy only if two conditions are meticulously met: The reviewers must be fully protected against abuse, and the Journal must be kept free of intentional insults and other offensive correspondence. Book reviewers are volunteers donating their services to the membership; they sacrifice their time first in studying the subject of the review, and then in fulfilling the thankless job of composing (and often several times recomposing) the review article, while not infrequently risking the penalty of unpopularity for work conscientiously done. If the book happens to be a mediocre or poor piece of scholarship and writing, the chances are that an honest review, even if formulated with considerable moderation, will make a deadly enemy of the criticized author. If, in the face of such risk and sacrifice, the journal does not always protect its reviewers against abuse, only fools and incompetent critics are likely to accept these demanding and often very unpleasant assignments. Such protection can only be provided if the Editors have the full authority and even mandate to insist on immaculate manners on the part of disgruntled authors. Most Editors will hate this function because it has some aspects of censorship. And some letter writers exploit this editorial reluctance to act as censors even for such limited purpose. One such case is Schneider's reply to Christensen as submitted to the Editor of Ethnomusicology. COLLOQUOY 503

Argument (complex analysis) · Insult · Linguistics · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy

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