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From: mgflax@phoenix.princeton.edu (Marshall G. Flax)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: ON PUBLIC RELATIONS
Message-ID: <15727@handicap.news>
Date: 21 May 91 03:57:33 GMT
References: <15660@handicap.news>
Sender: news@bunker.isc-br.com
Reply-To: mgflax@phoenix.princeton.edu (Marshall G. Flax)
Organization: Princeton University
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Approved: wtm@hnews.fidonet.org
Fidonet: Blink Talk Conference

Index Number: 15727

In article <15660@handicap.news> William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org writes:
>Index Number: 15660
>
>Christine Marie,
>     That message, madam, was what is called a joke!  I seldomly really
>give gender acknowledgement  when I reply to a person, and when I do, it
>is usually with sarcasim in my voice!
>I guess it is because I remember the days when terms like sir and madam
>were used to show respect!
>     By the way, you want to talk disturbing, I find it more than a tad
>disturbing that the person who was so outraged by our use of the word
>blink in this echo can refer to people as "sighty's" without batting an
>eye!

Two quick points:
1) I believe that it is common, when one is making sarcastic comments,
to include the characters :-) in the text.  (The punctuation marks
approximate a smiling face on its side.)  Another common approach is to
precede the sarcastic comment with the notation "[sarcasm on]" and
follow it with the notation "[sarcasm off]".  Such conventions solve
many misunderstandings before they begin, and save bandwidth for more
serious concerns.

2) It is not surprising, nor is it inonsistent, that a person who has
been blink for decades would find the word 'blink' unacceptable and yet
use the word 'sighty'.  The relationship between the two words is not
symmetric, because the relationship between the two groups is different.
The sighted have tried to define and control the lives of blind people
for centuries.  The blind have not tried to do the reverse to the
sighted.  It's not a symmetric power relation; it is oversimplifying and
naive to assume that the two words should be treated the same.

marshall

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/* Marshall Gene Flax '89       (609)258-6739  mgflax@phoenix.Princeton.EDU */
/* c/o Jack Gelfand|Psychology Dept|Princeton University|Princeton NJ 08544 */
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