"show & tell" is a catchy little phrase that many, if not most, people couple with junior school. This is probably an accurate alignment of ideas, but my use of it in my earlier post does not imply any denigration at any level.
If S&T is what people want to do and want to see, it has its own value.
I've spent in excess of 60 years in keris study, both field work and looking at the work of other people. It would be reasonable to assume I know a little bit about keris, and yes, I do, but really only Javanese keris, and Balinese keris in so far as they impact on Javanese keris. The stream of "show & tell' items that I meet with in this forum assist my knowledge of keris types of which I have only slight knowledge.
So:- nothing wrong with S&T.
But it would be really nice if we could sometimes see a few more perceptive questions, or well stated disagreements.
As David has written:- "--- asking the right questions can be almost as valuable as providing the right answers---"
The foundations of my profession rest upon the construction of questions that will provide the "right answers". I'm an auditor. Constructing the right question can be incredibly difficult. I've struggled frequently in trying to get a question just exactly right. Questions are not easy, they can be extraordinarily difficult to frame. But it would be nice to see a few piercing questions in our Forums, from time to time.
Some months ago I published an article that looked at areas of Javanese keris knowledge that had never been previously touched upon. I expected that it would generate a storm of disagreement and protest. It has now been read by a good cross section of keris conscious people. I have yet to hear anything except nice, friendly compliments. It is a trimmed down version of my original article, and because of this, I , myself, can find holes in it. But it seems nobody else can. To me, this is disappointing.
Thus, when Ian suggests that we write articles so that those articles can generate discussion, I am not really convinced that too many people are prepared to read, think, and question. I feel that most people read for entertainment only.
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