[KB] Herb Simons

[Elvera Berry]

Despite death's inevitability, it's a loss that hurts!

I remain grateful for Herb's mind (first encountered in 1984), warranted
persistence at every conference, personal conversations, and compelling
insights for undergraduates in his Persuasion text. Perhaps Herb, himself,
was a representative anecdote of warranted outrage as a comic corrective.

*Elvera*

Elvera Berry

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 9:08 PM Wess, Robert Victor <
robert.wess at oregonstate.edu> wrote:

> Sad news indeed.
>
> I first met Herb at the 1984 “`Burke’ Conference” at Temple that he and
> Trevor Melia directed. I had good talks with Herb at many of the KBS
> conferences that followed. He was always interesting.
>
> At the 1984 conference he made the issue of the conference the question of
> whether Burke’s comic attitude eliminated the possibility of “warranted
> outrage” (see Herb’s article on this issue in KB Journal, 6.1, Fall 2009).
>
>
> Trump is an interesting test case. He is obviously a walking comic figure.
> James Austin Johnson, who now does Trump on SNL, is absolutely hilarious
> and all he does is blandly put together sentences and paragraphs the way
> Trump does.
>
> But Burke says the comic attitude depends on “picturing people not as
> *vicious*, but as merely *mistaken*” (ATH 41). Can you do that with
> Trump? Even if you take into account his narcissistic personality disorder?
> Can the outrage Trump provokes fit within the comic frame?
>
> Bob
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* KB <kb-bounces at kbjournal.org> on behalf of Clarke Rountree <
> rountrj at uah.edu>
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 21, 2022 11:32 AM
> *To:* kb at kbjournal.org <kb at kbjournal.org>
> *Subject:* [KB] Herb Simons
>
>
> [This email originated from outside of OSU. Use caution with links and
> attachments.]
> Dear Burkeans—
>
> Just heard the sad news that Herb Simons died. He was a fixture in KBS and
> a friend to many of us.
>
> Clarke
>
>
> Obituary for Dr. Herb Simons (Submitted by Roderick P. Hart)
>
> Roderick P. Hart, rod.hart at austin.utexas.edu(Submitter)
>
> The sound has dimmed and the light is but a twinkle. Herb Simons is gone,
> gone from Gayle and Michael, gone from you and me on April 20th, 2022. Herb
> is gone after a lifetime of unbridled energy, of incessant ideas, of
> constant dialectic, of inveterate kindness. Trained as a social scientist
> but with the heart of a social critic, Herb plunged into the world of ideas
> after getting his PhD at Purdue and then spent most of his professional
> life at Temple University. Herb was a city guy – New York and Philadelphia
> especially. He loved the press of humanity found in the city. He loved its
> muffle of voices, its legion impossibilities.
>
> Herb never did the same thing twice. He hated yesterday. He cared only for
> what was new and controversial, for what was important. For some, rhetoric
> is the art of the gloved hand but, for Herb, rhetoric was the art of the
> naked fist. He punched at ideas rhythmically, rather like a boxer working a
> speedbag. There was no conversation he did not love, no argument he could
> not deconstruct.
>
> Herb was a raconteur in the world of ideas, an internationalist but also a
> campus activist. Herb saw politics everywhere and he questioned each and
> every drop of it. He descended on the 1960s like a warrior, hearing the
> sounds of the new social movements while the rest of the field could hear
> only establishmentarianism. Herb hated establishments. Herb loved chaos and
> the cauldron of ideas.
>
> In the days to come, others will tell of Herb’s brilliance, of his
> playfulness in the classroom, of his mentorship of young colleagues, of his
> stentorian voice of protest, of his love for the field, of his endless
> publications and scholarly awards. Today, though, and for me, though, the
> sound has dimmed and the light is but a twinkle.
>
> --
> Dr. Clarke Rountree
> Professor Emeritus of Communication Arts
> University of Alabama in Huntsville
> clarke.rountree at uah.edu
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>
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