From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Tue May 02 2000 - 09:55:01 MDT
> I know Lee Daniel probably did not intend it as an insult to anyone, but
> most people are going to take it that way. Better instead to avoid such
> words where possible if, indeed, you want to discourse with others.
"Avoid" words? How horrific! Words are there to be used; all of them.
Avoiding words is tantamount to avoiding thought: putting blinders on
one's mind, communicating in a straitjacket. If words have bad side
effects, then we should work on repairing those side effects, not the
words. If "offensiveness" gets in the way of communication, then let
us fight it--but "offense" exists in the listener's mind only, not the
speaker's, and that's where it has to be fought.
Tolerance is an obligation of listeners, not speakers. A speaker's
only obligation is honesty.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:28:21 MST