Peter Bartlett wrote:
Dear list,
This user has been starting or contributing to articles relating to
pataphysics, which is a movement that parodies things that are
pretentiously highbrow (as I understand it, pataphysics is to science
and the arts, as Mornington Crescent (the game show) was to chess
commentary.) Unfortunately Harry, instead of writing NPOV articles on
the subject has been writing articles about pataphysics in the style of
a pataphysican. this is to say in a deliberately obscure , obtuse and
POV way. Moreover these articles are in fact generally copied from other
websites with no sign of permission being sought. Harry has brushed this
last problem with a claim that pataphysicans are anti-copyright and so
it doesn't matter.
I never heard of Mornington Crescent, so that allusion is obscure to me.
It would seem hard to define NPOV in an absurdist context where
empirical sense does not have a significant role to start with. It may
be sufficient to offer a warning to those readers inclined to take the
subject seriously that what follows is parody, and that if they are
seriously looking for medical help they should consult a psychiatrist.
The copyright issue may not matter because of the anti-copyright stand.
If the pataphysicians (or pataphyphysicists?) have left the impression
that they are releasing their own writings into the public domain, so be
it. What they really are doing should be carefully checked.
One example is the page
[[Anthony_Hancock_Paintings_and_Sculptures:_A_Retrospective_Exhibition]]
.
NB Anthony Hancock is a character in the film The Rebel played by,
perhaps confusingly, Tony Hancock. Knowing that Anthony Hancock is/was
not a real person makes it easier to understand why this article is
rubbish.
Tony Hancock WAS a real person!!! His radio comedy ranks right up there
with "The Goon Show" and "Monty Python". Whether the "The
Rebel" or the
retrospective are accurate representations of Hancock, or parodies is
quite another question. When absurdists think outside the box they also
abandon the safety of keeping the box in view.
I have tried to engage in a debate with Harry (see
Votes For Deletion),
but as a relative newbie, I do not how to handle him and persuade to
conform to our rules if he wants to contribute to the Wikipedia. For the
first time having been on the 'net for years I fear I have been properly
trolled.
[[Votes for Deletion]] may simply be the wrong place for the discussion.
There is absolutely nothing on the talk page for [[Pataphysics]].