A Few Introductory Notes

I'm not an academic. I suppose since I'm on this course I am a scholar. However, I have real problems with the format of much typical scholary discourse. I know why it is as it is, and I don't at the moment have a better answer for it, bit doesn't mean I have to copy it. So, this piece is a hypertext essay, with hopefully most of the meat and two veg of the content in an understandable format, and in a respectful tone. Around and about the meat and two veg is what, for lack of another metaphor to over-stretch, I'm going to call the 'gravy' or 'sauce' if you will. I've got opinons, lots of them, and they're not always the most reverant or scholarly opinions. I do believe however that they're valid. I am a product and consumer of modern culture with an 'anything goes' attitude, so you will see a bunch of asides throughout this piece that are a mixture of comments, opinions, and links to other background pieces - some 'sensible' and some perhaps not. So be it.

Oh - it's also me writing this, so I'll probably refer to myself and the fact that I wrote this. Since it's you reading it, I'll probably also refer to you a few times too.