REPLY. “The lesson in the texts is that “Land of the Cyclops” is a bad program”. So writes Andreas Siotis in Arbetet om min text in GP and Sven Holmbergs in ETC.
I cannot comment on Holmberg’s views on “Land of the Cyclops”. But where in my text have I made a critical judgment about the program?
My text is a reasoning about motivations for devoting yourself to culture. I am criticizing a view of culture where celebrity and belonging motivate the cultural activity.
Nowhere do I ascribe to participation in “Land of the Cyclops” – a program I also appreciate – said motives.
Tone Schunesson is first and foremost a serious writer. Although I do not appreciate everything that Elis Monteverde Burrau has written, I doubt that participation in a panel of opinion is the goal of his writing.
Christopher Garplind, in turn, has created a program concept that has contributed to cultural coverage in Sweden.
Siotis disregards the score
Siotis ignores the point of my text and instead makes a reasoning about the superiority of Stockholm humor over Scania.
Sweden’s funniest person is the rapper, podcaster and Malmöite Färska Prinzen, but Siotis is entitled to his incorrect position.
However, the fact that superficial motivations have a negative impact on culture has no relation to the reasoning Siotis puts forward.
If Sioti’s misreading consisted of a minor misunderstanding, I would have let it pass, but what I have brought is an overarching critique of a wider phenomenon.
That reasoning that is at an abstraction level is interpreted as a criticism of individual individuals and phenomena makes a fruitful discussion impossible.
A functioning debate of ideas requires that criticism of phenomena is not misinterpreted as small-minded personal attacks.
Mentioned by first name
Finally, Sioti’s post is the second time I have been mentioned in the Work and on both occasions I have been referred to by my first name.
Possibly this approach on the part of the newspaper is a way of giving the texts a youthful colloquial character.
However, if I am mentioned in the Work in the future, I would prefer to be referred to by my last name.
The use of first names gives texts a personal touch, inappropriate in public conversation.
