Lately FB NFTE denizens have seen Geoff Downes jumping in and commenting on various reader comments here. Recently I questioned whether it really was Geoff when a fan made harsh remarks about his playing, and the response from Geoff was jarring and not one I would have expected. I reached out to Geoff and he confirmed that he was indeed behind the comments we’ve been seeing. In regard to the post in question his response was, “Maybe it was a bit heavy-handed as you point out, but Im getting a bit frustrated by some of the comments on your FB page tbh…when they take on a personal nature, I feel I have the right to counter with a similarly personal response. Thats all.” Those remarks go straight to the heart of a certain behavior that occurs much too often on forums like this one--and one where longtime users here have witnessed my own frustration. While it’s one thing to respectfully disagree and rationally debate the reasons for disagreeing, I don’t condone personal attacks--and in this case it came from both the fan’s original remarks, AND the band member in his response. It’s easy to make rude comments to someone in the void, but would one be equally harsh if that person was physically in the same room staring them in the face? If that were the case I believe that most people wouldn’t be quite as confrontational--and nasty--as the outcome might be one not expected; on one hand it might result in hurt feelings, but on the other it might be a different kind of hurt, like from a punch in the nose. “Them’s fighting words, pardner” might result in an altogether different reaction when the target is immediate, and not nebulous in the Internet ether. In this case I think Geoff may have felt under siege, and his reaction ultimately may have been more abrasive then he might have intended: “I thought I might have some intelligent and decent rapport with both the partisan fans and some of the more systematic maligners, but obviously to little or no avail as it just degenerates into the same old repetitive toxic diatribe…I appreciate the fans that are supportive of course, but at the end of the day ultimately, I have better things to be concentrating on right now.” While that last sentence indicates he may not be back, I did tell him that I would welcome any comments from him that didn’t degenerate into a mass of useless insults from both parties. Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks of “Heaven and Earth” he is a longtime member of the Yes family, and so in closing I said to Geoff, don’t be a stranger. MOT
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:53:02 +0000
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