Opinions

Lars Jensen lpj at forfatter.dk
Thu Nov 28 18:48:48 CET 2002


Sigvald wrote:

> >> An untrue fact would be
> >> something that Rosa made up himself. I.e. not wrote
> >> by Barks!
>
> Some people like Lars Jensen, Harry Fluks and others don't
> like it very much when someone claims that Barks or Barks/Rosa
> is canon. So you should be careful with your statements.

You've already apologized for using my (and Harry Fluks') name(s).
However, your reason was apparently only to be "concrete", so the actual
content of your posting still stands. Which means I'll still give you my
comments on your remarks.

1. Mads Jensen (who you quoted in your posting) shouldn't be "careful"
with his statements, any more than anybody else on this list. I can't
think of a single instance where I have attacked anybody (physically or
verbally) for their opinions. Why do you think it is necessary to warn
people against me? (And for the record, I haven't seen Harry Fluks
attack anybody either. I'd watch out for Don Fabio, though, if I were
you  :-) .
And that was a joke, by the way.)

2. Whether or not I like a certain point of view is irrelevant. As far
as I understand it, DCML is supposed to be about the free exchange of
ideas and opinions on Disney comics. I haven't had anybody here tell me
I wasn't allowed to have a certain opinion, and I'm not going to tell
anybody they can't have theirs.

3. I'll say this one more time and hope I can make myself clear enough
on the matter. I've tried before, but presumably you haven't understood
me. Alternatively, you are a troll. (Which I still don't think you are.)
In my opinion, people are entitled to believe whatever they want to
believe about the Duck universe. They are entitled to believe that Barks
is canon, that Rosa is canon, that Taliaferro is canon, that somebody
else is canon, that nobody is canon - or something entirely different.
My *personal* belief is that there *is* no real canon, but I'll always
look at the original creator's vision for the character (or concept),
before I go ahead with a story. I used Dickie Duck very briefly in a
story recently, and I based her on Scarpa's version. Whenever I use
Scrooge, I base him on Barks' version. And so on. But note that that is
my *personal* belief.
As far as I understand it, you believe Rosa is canon, and every other
creator is - as far as canonicity is concerned - unimportant. That's
fine. It's a valid opinion, and I'm not going to say it's wrong.
However, you have more than once pointed out "mistakes" in other
people's beliefs. These "mistakes" appear because not everybody puts the
same weight on Don Rosa's facts as you do. An example is when you
dismissed Al Taliaferro's Donna/Daisy team-up, since it didn't fit in
with an idea Rosa considered a few years ago. Instead of shrugging your
shoulders and let it go (or acknowledging you might be wrong), you
insisted your point of view was the only valid one and (as far as I can
make out) refused to listen to opposing arguments. Not only is that
intolerant, Sigvald, but it's also puzzling. You once described yourself
as a historian. Surely, a historian would go to the original sources,
rather than to more recent works?

4. If you don't understand my or somebody else's opinions, please don't
summarize them for others.

And in case this comes across as me being angry: I'm not. I'm just
getting tired of typing more or less the same thing over and over.

Lars





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