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From: benson@alcatraz.ksr.com (Benson Margulies)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: A meta-comment, and a suggestion.
Message-ID: <158@ksr.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 30-May-87 18:30:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: ksr.158
Posted: Sat May 30 18:30:52 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Jun-87 01:02:29 EDT
References: <1446@hoxna.UUCP> <3230002@nucsrl.UUCP>
Sender: nobody@ksr.UUCP
Reply-To: benson@ksr.UUCP (Benson Margulies)
Organization: Kendall Square Research, Cambridge MA
Lines: 48


This is really quite a spectacle.

Someone asks a sysop to pull mark's access to soc.women over a matter
of so-called net ettiquette. That person might or might not have had a
point. A discussion of the idea in net.misc is not an unreasonable
result. 

The discussion moves here.

A collection of selfrighteous flamers move their
ready-at-the-drop-of-a-hat attacks on mark in here.

(selfrighteous:
omygodthenetisgodsgifttoallofusandifgodforbiditshouldgoaway
itwillbetheendoftheworldsoletsstomponanyonewhodoesanythingcontroversialby
ournarrowmindedstandards
)

(usual disclaimer: I'm responding to what I've seen in this newsgroup,
not anything that may have been said, done, aledged, or forged
elsewhere or elsewhen.)

Then the selfsame characters flame that mark is polluting news.misc.

The attitudes on display here show that mark can't possibly add an
increment of pollution to the net, at least on the subject of gender
relations.

When, and if, the people asking for this discussion to leave news.misc
learn to stop tossing in gratuitous insults to mark, women, and feminists,
then there is some chance that this discussion will go
away. Until then, kiddies, find your j key. Because I for one consider
it a net issue, not a soc issue, that people can in one line say
"let's not talk about this in news.misc", and on the next say
"feminists would never permit a men only newsgroup."

I am in no position to speak for feminists in general, but I can tell
you with great assurance that many feminists would be overjoyed to see
men talking out their more unsavory beliefs where the feminists didn't
have to see them. At the political principle goes: its the job of
members of the opressing group to fix their heads, not the job of the
oppressed to fix them for them.


Benson I. Margulies                         Kendall Square Research Corp.
harvard!ksr!benson			    All comments the responsibility
ksr!benson@harvard.harvard.edu		    of the author, if anyone.