Clarity—from the Proverbs of Tharmas Erthona

[shemthepenman]

Shem wrote: "you should seriously be a politician, Dale. You say a lot, but never really answer the question. Hats off to that."

Well, as the reader that is obviously your problem for not being able to fathom the depths of what I say and interpreting it instead as meaningless. Obviously I cannot be held accountable for your shallowness and lack of necessary intellectual insight to understand what I am saying. I say many things, not the least of which is, is that I say many things. It is to bad my replies are so erudite that they simply fly above your head.

(This is called the unassailable position and is what happens once one allows the door open to blaming the reader for any failure in the writing. Sorry, it is either/or not both.)

Dale  
 

Ah, irony (I quote "Ah but pretending to not understand when you do understand, in order to make your point is deceitful and what kind of a victory is it when you must demean yourself (whether you will admit it or not) in order to win? However, I suppose you win. I am a simple man and I cannot compete with the complexity of lies." - Dale).

Well, anyway, yeah, you are spot on, my lack of intelligence could be the reason that I am not finding an answer to the simple question "is it always the writers fault that meaning is not conveyed?" Seems like a simple yes/no type deal to me, but maybe not, maybe I haven't put the question clearly enough.

regardless, it is either/or not both. Good. We're all in agreement.

So, with regards to your proverb, and how it can be best applied: if you are a writer then you should assume the proverb is true (it will strengthen your inner critic - and also make you question what you really want to achieve); if you are the reader you should assume the opposite of the proverb is true (you might actually learn something - those that think they know everything are unteachable).

Or, if you want to be particularly Wilde about it, you could say that, the proverb is true when you are reading something you don't understand, and the oppsite is true when someone is reading something of yours that they don't understand.

case closed.