foetry flames

God, the flame wars over at Foetry are depressing. Maybe my reaction means I have no sense of humor (it wouldn't be the first I've been accused of this, and my accusers have often been correct). The discussion between Gary Norris and Jake Adam York seems quite interesting, though, and I'm looking forward to future installments.

Regarding the flame wars, I have a very difficult time seeing Gary Norris, Larua Carter, and Jim Berhle as perpetrators of the kind of corruption Foetry hopes to expose. I keep thinking of that scene in Monty Python's the Life of Brian in which the four members of the Judean People's Front run down the list of all the revolutionary groups they hate more than the Romans.

As for the Romans (i.e., corruption in the poetry publishing world), I've never directly witnessed it myself, but I would be quite suprised if it didn't exist. Sorry to be cynical, but if cliquishness can serve as an indicator of a social environment ripe for corruption and abuse of power, then my admittedly limited experience of the poetry world suggests that the kind of corruption Foetry allegedly aims to uncover is probably in full bloom. Given this, I think that anonymity does makes some sense.

However -- and this is a big, big however -- it seems to me that some of the more vocal members use their anonymity to bully and intimidate others who could have been effective allies. Which, to me, constitutes not just a self-defeating move but an abuse of power, i.e., a form of corruption. I hope those who are an integral part of the Foetry project find a way to build a real community that can take an effective stand against real corruption; right now, based on what I've seen over the past couple of days, Foetry comes across more like some neighborhood gang shaking down local businesses and residents. Wrong targets, guys, to say the least.