As a
parent, college instructor and occasional job applicant, I am used to
non-responses. I regularly eat humble
pie and I recommend it. Lately, to
maintain my weight and reduce the pain of two arthritic hips, I equate hunger
with humility.
As a former
presidential candidate, regularly remarked: I get it.
I
understand email torrents, and confidential email addresses that get you to the
person and not his or her agent. I
appreciate how busy people can be, or think they are. Still, I cannot predict just who will, or
will not respond to me. Bear in mind
that in most instances, I seek nothing from the correspondent other than an
answer to a question, or the possibility that she might read a recent work in
progress, or increase my readership of published works above the average of 10.
My high average
of ignoring respondents crosses party lines, but I suspect my right of center
friends will increasingly fail to respond.
Why bother for someone who maintains his independence and offers no
certain allegiance?
For my part,
I try to respond to anyone, including high school students who want me to do
their homework on network neutrality. I do
not calibrate whether and how to respond based on the person’s celebrity
status, or lack thereof. I do not calculate a cost/benefit.
I try to be
a good citizen, academic colleague and seeker of the truth. I am rewarded when some luminaries readily and
regularly respond. However, I cannot
understand why, for example, one Stanford Law School rock star responds and
shares his research with me, while another one can’t be bothered ever. I cannot explain why one Penn State
University President responded to an occasional email, but two subsequent ones have
used intermediaries that reply with scripts and corporate gobbledygook.
I know I
need to buck up, but it grieves me when my right of center colleagues
apparently have become the latest non-responders. For my part, I have always sought to listen
and learn rather than engage in one-upmanship and snark.
As a trite,
but on point bumper sticker states: Let’s try more wag and less bark. Do respond to your emails.
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