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From: richmond@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan E. D. Richmond)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,news.misc,soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: RACIST JOKES
Keywords: JEDR, racist, jokes
Message-ID: <8086@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 20 Nov 88 21:15:20 GMT
References: <8030@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <1058@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1060@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1057@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1223@fig.bbn.com> <666@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> <8052@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <7576@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: richmond@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan E. D. Richmond)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 33

Gary, let's please not speculate on what I might or might not do --
I have simply given Brad Templeton notice that if he cannot find
sufficient control to be reasonably selective by himself, I am
inclined to take further action.  I haven't said what that action is.

As it so happens, I have been informed that Brad Templeton in fact
owns his firm, so there doesn't appear to be a question of contacting
his employer (there may be other options, though.)

But let us take that particular case:  If I were an employer, I would
certainly want to know if one of my employees were sending out racially
offensive material using *my* equipment, and I would certainly regard
it as my right to tell that employee to stop doing so.  Part of 
"freedom of speech" is the opportunity to inform affected communities
of what is going on.  If someone would be ashamed at an employer having
that knowledge, then it is an indication that the material in question
is socially unacceptable.  This is no more an attempt at "censorship"
than Mr. Templeton's decisions to reject jokes he does not find to be
amusing.  One person might argue that Mr. Templeton should be selective
only to the extent of rejecting boring submissions; another might
say he should exclude racist material.  It is all a matter of selectivity,
and I believe it involves judgment.

As I said in an earlier posting, I very much support the right of 
freedom of speech, but that is rarely the only "right" under consideration.
The right of ethnic and religious groups to not feel persecuted is
another and, by the way, Canadian law is much stricter on this than
American law.  Mr. Templeton happens to live in Canada, so we should
consider the Canadian case as well as the American one.

My overall preference would be for Mr. Templeton to show some moderation,
then I could forget about the whole matter.  I certainly agree that
good judgement with free will is the best way to go.