Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!richmond
From: richmond@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan E. D. Richmond)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: REMOVAL OF RACIST JOKES
Message-ID: <8028@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 18 Nov 88 03:06:29 GMT
References: <8011@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <17117@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <8016@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <1211@fig.bbn.com>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: richmond@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan E. D. Richmond)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 33


I do not wish to spread this discussion to more than one newsgroup,
so I expect this will be all I have to say on the matter in news.misc.
Please follow this on soc.culture.jewish if you are interested.

In response to Rich Salz' questions, I am not currently going to 
answer the first three.  My ultimate goal -- to reply to question 4 --
is the elimination of racist jokes from rec.humor.funny.

I removed Mr. Wiener's quote to shorten it.

In reply to #7, I was simply saying that I wish to consider some
action which will result in the elimination of racist "humor" from
rec.humor.funny.

In answer to #8, this is irrelevant, would require a long and considered
account, and one that I am not going to give now.

To answer #9, the citation of the First Amendment is irrelevant.  The 
point is that Brad Templeton clearly has a choice in whether to include
racist humor or not.  He receives a large volume of jokes, many of which
he rejects.  While (were he American) the First Amendment might
protect his inclusion of racist material, I believe that he should have
the good judgement to *choose* not to do so.

I have had more to say in soc.culture.jewish.  Just bear in mind that
racist jokes such as we have seen in rec.humor.funny have been used to
create stereotypes that have been the basis of persecution of races
and peoples.  That would seem to me to be enough reason not to propagate
such material.