Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!dartvax!quark
From: quark@dartvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: Re: Re: Offensiveness (long article) - (nf)
Message-ID: <357@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Nov-83 08:42:02 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.357
Posted: Thu Nov 10 08:42:02 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Nov-83 21:01:33 EST
References: tekcad.100
Lines: 44

Well, I never thought I'd write again but the last few days have
been a bit much.

Mr. Adrian, you haven't been the first person who has suggested that
the people who reacted to the BLKTRAN article were only a 'vocal
minority'. In fact it pales compared to some of the mail I received
from the 'silent majority'. I have a mailbox full of various insults,
innuendo, and the like because I had the audacity to write a follow-up
about an article which I found truly offensive. However, most of the
mail I did receive was supportive of my point of view and much of it
came from people who I have not seen submit articles of that nature to
the net. So let us not come to any ill-conceived notions about what
the 'majority' thinks.
 
Secondly, there has been a good deal of talking about censorship
recently. But the source of this discussion has been with the folks
who, for the most part, also said that BLKTRAN was humorous. And,
'blah de blah' (or something like that, I forget the author) it was
we who were offended that should 'shut up' and 'keep it to ourselves'.
I think it is questionable that an article such as BLKTRAN should
appear on the net, but this is not a matter of having an external
agency decide. It is a matter of individuals on the one hand examining
their consciences before submitting such a 'joke'. And it is also a
matter of my having the right to speak my piece without being told
to shut up. In this regard ROT13-ing or typing 'n' is extraneous.

Lastly, I am surprised that the First Amendment question hasn't come
up. Yes, indeed, it is everyone's right to say what they please;
this is an important freedom. Yet there is a final point that I
feel must be raised: what role do you think 'Jewish jokes' played
in Germany in the 1930's? These were far more than light-hearted
humor that should be taken in stride ('relax....don't take it so
seriously') for they served to denigrate Jews in the eyes of others
and helped prepare the acceptance of the 'deportations'. With
discrimination against Blacks (and other peoples of color) still
in existence in our country, and overt slavery in the not too
distant past, I am reluctant to accept BLKTRAN and other 'jokes'
which use stereotypes of people (usually those that experience
discrimination in real life), as light-hearted humor.

Thanks.

Ken Schwartzman
!decvax!dartvax!quark