Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site opus.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Apology? I doubt it... Message-ID: <597@opus.UUCP> Date: Sat, 7-Jul-84 03:24:02 EDT Article-I.D.: opus.597 Posted: Sat Jul 7 03:24:02 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 9-Jul-84 01:09:22 EDT References: <2571@harpo.UUCP> Organization: NBI, Boulder Lines: 60 Harpo!jrl has posted what appears to be an explanation and apology for the almost-unbelievable flames he put in net.singles and net.flame against homosexuals (and, moving out from there, almost anything to the left of John Birch & Co.). I, for one, am not buying it yet...let me explain a bit: >I was careful not to go too overboard with >any one group or race, to avoid any legal ramifications with AA or mgt. Not sure who AA is (??other than Alcoholics Anonymous??), but jrl was not careful in ANY sense in his attitude toward homosexuals. It was just plain old hateful bigotry, full flame on, and it doesn't matter much that he's now claiming it was a game. If you don't recall and you really think he might have been "careful not to go too overboard", try: > If gays want to ream each other with dildoes that's their problem but to > tell be that it is legal is another. To tell me that I can't discriminate > against homosexuals is another step in turning this country into a > liberal wasteland >.... Usually I just read the net. However in order >to see how it works I needed something that would generate responses by more >than a few people. So my absurd flame was submited to net.flame and personal >mail was answered by some more bigoted retoric in order to get people teed >off egnough to rebut me. NO SALE. Yes, it was an absurd flame. Was it a test? Now, I'm no genius, but I can figure out how to play with the net without offending most of the people who read it and writing flaming bigoted statements against various groups. I like to operate under a particular motto: ...but in the case of jrl's posting, I can't attribute that much stupidity to a person; I have to assume some malice at the heart of it. I'd really like to know what's going on, but it sounds like jrl might have been given a good dressing-down by his management and forced to make a retraction of sorts. If that's the case, however, his retraction is pretty lame [by my standards, at least]. The explanation of continued bigotry in mail responses is really stretching it. Just how far does he think he can fool us? After all, he hardly had any credibility to start with. Would you buy a used car from that man? Would you vote for him for president? Sounds like, "Honest, mommy, I just used my crayon to write that nasty word on the wall 'cause I heard it and wanted to write it down so I could look it up." >... I was really suprised that so many people took me seriously, >after all I was so off the wall how could you take it seriously ! Yes, it was off the wall. So what? There are lots of off-the-wall postings on the net, but when they're offensive on the face, they're offensive, period. What's more, I'm not going to let jrl beg off and then try to belittle us for taking his posting seriously - that's just a cheap shot to make some of us look like fools for responding honestly that his posting was offensive - which it most certainly was! > As to the fact that I did not have the guts to sign my name to >such rhetoric well I figured that someone would find me out and that's >exactly what happened. ...and if you hadn't been found out, jrl, I suppose you would have just let it go??? -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Are you making this up as you go along?