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He wasn't laughing when I told him you were using him to discredit my essay and that the least he could do was read it before criticizing it. He admitted he had not read it but that he never criticzed it, he would never dismiss an essay he had never read...he was simply responding to what you had told him--pretty pathetic, but predictable, which is why I contacted him."
Tom MacWood:
Pretty pathetic?? You're joking. Apparently you expect anyone and everyone who may read an article by you to take what you say on faith, or with no criticism. That's not going to happen anywhere, I'm sure, and most certainly not on this website.
George Landow did not hestitate to say he knew very little about golf and nothing about golf architecture. So, even if he had read your article before I first spoke with him he likely would have had nothing to say about its conclusion---eg the powerful influence of the English A/C movement on the Golden Age of Golf Architecture----eg the title of your essay "Arts and Crafts Golf".
What I spoke with him about was the A/C movement in England in the 19th century and also about the Victorian Age in general. I did tell him that your point on here was that the English A/C movement was massively pervasive and almost universally popular in England in the Victorian Age thereby effecting and influencing all art forms.
About the Victorian Age in general obviously Landow is a recognized authority. On the English A/C movement in particular he simply explained to me what some of those he believes to be the best authorties on the English A/C movement and the A/C movement in general felt about it and had said and written about it.
He then told me who he considered those authorities on the A/C movement to be and I contacted them too.
The point is none of them concur with you about the pervasiveness and the general popularity of the A/C movement in Victorian England. They pointed out that the A/C movement was just one of a number of movements going on during an unusually dynamic time in history, in thought, social, economic, artistic and cultural areas---the Victorian Age. This is a pretty important point because essentially it's been the premise on which you've based your essay and the premise on which you base everything you've said here on this discussion group about the A/C movement and its ability to powerfully influence golf course architecture of the Golden Age.
If that's criticism you consider pathetic then so be it. The point is you've constantly criticized me for not knowing enough about the subject of the English A/C movement so I simply went to perhaps the world's best authorities on it and on the time in which it existed---eg Victorian England.
If one of your premises about the significance of the A/C movement and its popularity and pervasiveness is over-blown or exaggerated, which of course it is, then your assumptions and conclusions are going to be skewed and probably incorrect.
That's what I've been trying to point out on here and I believe I have by going to those who understand both the English A/C movement and the entire age of the Victorian Era a whole lot better than you do.
If you consider criticism of the things you write pathetic, perhaps you should seriously consider just not writing these kinds of essays at all.
Furthermore, I told Landow up front precisely why I was calling him. If he didn't feel like speaking with me following that he certainly had the choice not to. I suggest you do the same to those you try to get information from. There are a few local government officials in Merchantville NJ who are still furious at you for not doing that considering you failed to tell them you may write about what they were telling you.
Trying to pass that oversight of on me is what's pathetic, in my opinion. Apparently you're trying to do the same again on this issue of the English A/C movement and the Victorian Era.
Information and opinion dissemination in the public arena is fair game for criticism from anyone but maybe you don't feel that way about it. This is the United States of America you know?