User talk:KevinDavis

I want to start correcting misspelled words

Go right ahead. --Ed Poor ^Talk 13:30, 19 August 2011 (EDT)

Thank you. I have a script searching for commonly misspelled words at the moment. Hopefully it will return something. KevinDavis 09:38, 20 August 2011 (EDT)

Spell check

In case of essays where it says no other contributions, I think minor spelling corrections are fine. Karajou 11:28, 19 August 2011 (EDT)

Ok thank you. I'll refrain if a correction would change the meaning at all (I don't know why it would, but still). KevinDavis 09:37, 20 August 2011 (EDT)

RE:James Bond?

Yes, that is correct.--GOPFan2011 13:40, 5 September 2011 (EDT)

Style

Regarding this: there are two ways to approach quotes and punctuation. One format (which I prefer) is to only have the quotes represent the quote punctuation, i.e. if there is a comma or period at the end of the quote then put that punctuation, if not leave punctuation outside of the quote. Some others prefer to have all punctuation within a quote. One is based on quotation correctness logic, the other is based on uniformity. Which does Conservapedia prefer so that can be established (or you'll have to be doing a lot of changes to switch it over :) )? I do have a program that can swap the punctuation more easily so I can handle some of it without a problem. Ottava (talk) 10:19, 9 September 2011 (EDT)

I was always taught that punctuation is placed within quotes, regardless of context or content (with a few rare exceptions, none of which I've seen used here). I've used that method for years in my work, and it's what I pass on to my students. However, if you have any lingering questions, I would ask User:Aschlafly, since he's who I've turned to for help with other issues. Kevin Davis ^Talk 10:22, 9 September 2011 (EDT)

Looking briefly online, it appears it is more of a UK/US thing, and looking at some of my critical books it seems to be a pre-1980 (logic) vs post-1980 (uniform). Ottava (talk) 10:47, 9 September 2011 (EDT)

As my education has always been in the US, perhaps that's why I defer to it. I would always use the US standard, since that's my personal preference, but if you choose to alternate between them, it would make sense to use the US standard for American web sites (of which this site is an example) and the UK standard for UK sites. Kevin Davis ^Talk 12:40, 9 September 2011 (EDT)

Pearl S. Buck and The Good Earth

Buck living in China was suspicious? Really? A child of Christian missionaries stationed in China who later married a Christian missionary? How is that suspicious?

I admit I haven't read the book in a while, so I would appreciate it if you would please explain and reference the connections to communism you believe exist in The Good Earth - otherwise I'm going to remove it. --SharonW 00:32, 23 September 2011 (EDT)

Later in life, Buck was highly critical of her father; specifically, see her work Fighting Angel, which portrays her father in less than a flattering light. Buck explicitly described her father's missionary work as part and parcel of Western imperialism. Hardly a positive view of evangelical efforts, wouldn't you agree? Also, several of her political views (particularly, her support for "women's rights" and the left-leaning progressive movements) led to substantial disagreement between her and the Presbyterian group that employed her as a missionary, thus leading directly to her resignation from that group. Finally, her husband worked primarily as an agricultural economist for the Chinese government; his missionary work was a distant second to his agricultural studies. Marxists critized his work in later years, but the vast majority of this criticism occurred during the Cultural Revolution in China, which in its nationalistic fervor lashed out at all ideas Western, regardless of their political orientation.

I believe I have presented enough about Pearl S. Buck and her husband to satisfy your curiosity. As for The Good Earth itself, I won't engage you with too much detail, for the sake of brevity. However, the novel contains a sizeable amount of discussion of the protagonist's agrarian background, which exemplifies the agrarian school of thought popular with Chinese Communists. Mao himself was famous for his application of Marxist principles to the primarily agrarian economy of China, despite Marx's idea that a revolution could only occur in an advanced industrial society. Although The Good Earth contains elements of Algerian novels of the 19th century, it also contains numerous anti-capitalist implications, i.e. the mob that destroys the house of a wealthy city dweller, and Wang Lung's sadness at the end of the novel, despite his hard work and the affluence he has provided for his family. Finally, his actions involving the concubine Lotus make me question the moral standing of the author.

I hope that the information above is informative; if you have any other questions, feel free to let me know. Thank you! Kevin Davis ^Talk 19:12, 23 September 2011 (EDT)

Kevin, Sorry I haven't responded before this - we've recently moved, and our house is decorated in the Early American Box motif, as well as I lost a friend way too young this past week. I'm hoping to get a chance this weekend to pick up a copy of The Good Earth, and maybe one or two others written by Buck, so I can read/re-read them before trying to discuss them with you! ;-) As I said previously, it's been *ahem* a year or two since I've read anything by her, and at the time, I probably just read it to enjoy the story, without looking for any deeper meaning/intent. Thanks for being patient with me! --SharonW 23:23, 28 September 2011 (EDT)