On the Beauty of
the Standard Disclaimer
by
Cecil Touchon copyright 1994
THE STANDARD DISCLAIMER:
"The ideas, views,
opinions, attitudes, conceptions or insinuations, both explicit and implicit,
contained herein may or may not be those of the International Post-Dogmatist
Group at a whole or any of its constituent members, associates, affiliates,
subsidiaries or institutions."
Perhaps the reader considers the standard
disclaimer as a mere novelty of Post-Dogmatism but as Patrick O’Kelly recently
pointed out, it is the essence of what Post-Dogmatism is all about. As
a disclaimer it leaves all members of the International Post-Dogmatist
Group utterly blameless in relation to what ever any other member of the
group may say or do as a post-dogmatist. The standard disclaimer implies
that all members are completely independent of each other and may or may
not hold the same views on any given subject and therefore should not and
can not be grouped as an easily recognizable category and thus, as a group,
defies definition. In this regard the standard disclaimer is something
of a manifesto in it self. The IPDG was designed for the creative community
as a way of creating a group that provides all of us fiercely independent
and thus relatively isolated individuals with a vehicle through which we
might define ourselves and name ourselves without being labeled into historical
groupings which we may or may not identify with. In addition the standard
disclaimer covers even the individual who is speaking and who - being a
member - may not wish to be forced to stand behind something he said for
the reason that creative individuals are quite often merely proposing an
idea or conception in a detached manor as a way of grappling with an issue
much in the same way as one might make a work of art just to see what will
happen rather than as a statement of personal belief. On the other hand,
since no Post-Dogmatist is under any obligation to stand behind an other
Post- Dogmatist’s ideas or thoughts, this leaves all Post-Dogmatist free
to say what ever they deem appropriate at any given moment without concern
what any other Post-Dogmatist might think about it. Thus, there is no need
to attempt to please any other Post-Dogmatists or to maintain any ‘party
line’ since whatever all Post-Dogmatist collectively express at any given
time is Post-Dogmatism no matter how contrary or paradoxical it may seem.
We are not striving for any uniformity of thought or any kind of homogeneous
image as a group since it is designed for each member to act independently
and according to his own nature and convictions. It is the diversity of
the various members of the group that gives it it's vitality and what makes
Post-Dogmatism so distinctive. The more views there are and the more diverse
are the group’s perspectives, the stronger and more complete Post-Dogmatism
becomes as is in keeping with the mysterious and all inclusive nature of
Post-Dogmatism.
So go ahead, express yourself! |
