Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!decvax!cca!ima!ism780!jim
From: jim@ism780.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: Re: Re: 'Offensive' jokes, minorities, r - (nf)
Message-ID: <186@ism780.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-May-84 00:15:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism780.186
Posted: Mon May 21 00:15:20 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 22-May-84 07:39:17 EDT
Lines: 57

#R:ut-sally:-18100:ism780:12400001:000:2397
ism780!jim    May 19 18:40:00 1984

> ***** ism780:net.jokes.d / ut-sally!jsq /  2:05 pm  May 16, 1984
> A quote:
> 	
> 	From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny)
> 	Message-ID: <151@scc.UUCP>
> 	Date: Thu, 10-May-84 12:01:24 CDT
> 	
> 	...
> 		Saying that some people were offened falls short of the mark.
> 	An analogy would be how weak the word "uncomfortable" is in:
> 	"Life would be uncomfortable for the survivors of a nuclear war."
> 	...
> 
> and another quote:
> 
> 	From: steiny@scc.UUCP
> 	Message-ID: <158@scc.UUCP>
> 	Date: Sun, 13-May-84 11:07:55 CDT
> 	
> 		A shrink?  I didn't say that BLKTRN was like a nuclear
> 	war.   I was trying to emphisize how upset some people got.
> 	Remember, there are people in netland who are not getting net.jokes
> 	because of it.  Are you upset?
> 	
> 						Don Steiny
> 						Personetics
> 
> The two quotes seem to be a bit contradictory to me.  Anybody who gets
> as upset at a bad joke (even an offensive bad joke) as at a nuclear war
> has a serious problem of perspective.
> 
> I've already said that what offends me about the whole subject is that
> sites left the net because of it, and I don't mean just because of the
> joke, but at least as much because of the disproportionate reactions to it.
> -- 
> John Quarterman, CS Dept., University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 USA
> jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, jsq@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq
> ----------

This is really stupid.  Don offered an analogy.  It has nothing to do with
nuclear war per se.  It tried to state that people were extremely offended,
and compared the weakness of the mere word "offended" to the obvious weakness
of the mere word "uncomfortable" in another situation.  People who interpret
this as Don somehow saying that BLKTRAN was as bad as nuclear war are rather
fuzzy-headed.  To repeat the charge after Don explicitly stated that he was
not comparing the joke to nuclear war is stupid, arrogant, a straw man,
dishonest, and misleading (**** 'em if they can't take a little criticism).
John, I think you are blinded by your unconstructive insistence on
criticizing anyone who in any way suggests that there are legitimate reasons
to dislike certain jokes, or that people who tell jokes should consider their
social implications.  And your credibility is certainly weakened by this
example of your failure to understand a simple semantic construct.

-- Jim Balter, INTERACTIVE Systems (ima!jim)