other-bashing

[MASCARO at humnet.ucla.edu]

Pissed Chris, wisest on the list
Speaks a lot of wisdom in a post like this.

Appreciated and seconded here, at least, and quoted in full.
john m


>
>     Many thanks to Bill Burns, Terry Caesar and Eric Alan Weinstein for 
>     their insightful comments.
>     
>     Like Bill, based on Bonnie's well-reasoned objections, I will admit to 
>     being forced to rethink my initial laissez-faire response to the 
>     Ebonics joke.  However, I still fail to see how this repeating this 
>     joke or laughing at it rates even in the ballpark of promulgating 
>     hate-crimes.  As you say, Bill, we need to be able to distinguish the 
>     moment when a confrontation is *genuinely* necessary and will promote 
>     a useful exchange of ideas, and when it isn't.  And I very much agree 
>     that a stand must be taken in our ordinary lives.  I do.
>     
>     I've been on this list for about a year.  I can't recall ever reading 
>     anything or catching vibes from anyone that made me think there was a 
>     *genuinely* serious attitude problem happening, that *any* remark 
>     deserved the kind of blasting that has come to be expected, feared 
>     and, regrettably, all too common on this list.  We've all put our foot 
>     in our mouths, we've all got racist or sexist or homophobic or 
>     whatever tendencies to unlearn, but jesus h. christ, the Pynchon-list 
>     is not exactly the cyber-convergence of the Aryan nation.  Let's get 
>     some perspective here, folks.  Listen:  We may get testy with each 
>     other from time to time, but this is not a hostile or insensitive 
>     environment.  Let's be reasonable:  Shouldn't intent get factored into 
>     our particular equation when lobbing p.c. diatribes?  
>     
>     Bonnie's last involvement in a war like this one began in a similar 
>     fashion:  She took a remark out of context in her self-appointed 
>     leap to defend the rights of the downtrodden.  To me, this gives 
>     what would be in other circumstances a very important point the 
>     effect of the Disgusting Classroom Monitor Drill.  I have come to 
>     resent these contextless kamikaze p.c. attacks on innocent and/or 
>     unsuspecting listees.  
>     
>     The end result of the current to-do has been *not* that light has 
>     been brought to the ignorant, but that Bonnie has dropped from the 
>     list because she's too busy to "really" participate.  I will be 
>     unkind enough to note here that Bonnie's intermittent and 
>     self-righteous dive bomb attacks have been the *only* participation 
>     that has registered with yours truly of late.  Worst of all, she 
>     seems to have driven off Gary, a fellow who had never posted before 
>     and, I believe, MEANT NO HARM TO ANYONE.  I am furious about this.
>     
>     Gary please don't stop posting.
>     
>     Flame away, go ahead -- I'm sure I've written *something* that I'll later 
>     regret.
>     
>     Pissed Chris
>