[Air-l] peace

[david silver]

radhika, while i understand your desire to find a subterranean headspace,
i'd suggest staying above ground, whether the ground is snow or concrete.
i think i speak for many when i say we need your voice now more than ever.
peace.  =)

jillana, keep forwarding.  i have benefited from so many posts on air-l,
especially from robert, who seems to find all the most interesting nodes
of cyberspace.  i have used these posts to better understand what is
happening today and what will most likely happen tomorrow, have integrated
them into my lectures and research, and have found myself using them as
spring boards to explore more.  there's no need or use for us to shut down
now.

danny's post was right on target and he raises all kinds of questions that
can take us years to answer collectively.  i agree that air-l has in the
past been very north american but this doesn't have to be the case, and i
believe it is changing swiftly.  it seems to me that the list is getting
more and more international and i've heard reports from the conference
committee that air 4.0 has attracted proposals from a larger range of
countries than previous conferenes. (please correct me, someone, if i'm
wrong, or, better yet, give us some numbers if possible.)  speaking as an
american, the mainstream media that surrounds me has gone into hyper
pro-war mode so the more diverse coverage, perspectives, and ideas that
can potentially emerge from communities like air-l, the better in my
book.

danny also characterized air-l as highly professional and mentioned the
careerism of its participants.  although i call air my home conference and
spend much time learning from air-l, i would have to agree somewhat with
this comment and am wondering if and how it can be changed.  most of us on
this list are scholars and artists and activists and technologists and
just plain freaks (a term of affection in my book), but all of us are
human (any bots out there?) and i personally don't see that as a
conflict.  with this in mind, there seems a lot we -- as academics and
as human beings -- can do within a forum like air-l:

we can continue to educate and share ideas with one another, ideas that
may not be covered in mainstream media;

we can continue to post emails describing various actions -- online and
offline, anti-war and pro-war (anyone following clear channel's
sponsorship of pro-war rallies? crazy) -- being organized as a response
to the war;

we can ask the conference committee to consider organizing some kind of
special roundtable discussion/s on matters on the war, globalization, and
digital technologies;

we can even be so bold as to consider some kind of resolution similar to
that passed recently by the Association of American Geographers.

i'm not assuming that everyone on this list is against this war.  indeed,
in the last 24 hours i've received a number of emails offlist deriding my
post, calling me a communist (haven't heard that insult in a while, how
bush sr, no?).  in an ideal world, such posts would be sent to the
list rather than directly to my inbox.

peace, peace, peace,

david