[Vision2020] Godwin's Law Strikes Again!

[g. crabtree]

Well Sunil, since you insist on trying to chase me out onto a thin limb, I'll give you my take on comments such as the one you refer to. You won't like or agree with it, I suspect, but here goes. Please bare in mind that I speak for myself and not anyone else to who you might attribute a lack of sensitivity.

When someone makes a remark like "All ragheads are vermin and have no right to live" it is inexcusably racist and deserves to be denounced at every possible turn.

When someone says "That miserable raghead just cut the head off of a American non-combatant," it is a minor lapse of manner(s) or tact. Unfortunate but, forgivable. Not, in my opinion, an indication of racism per se.

In the first you are calmly stating your contemptible and unsupportable opinion of a large group/race of people. In the second you are expressing your anger and frustration at an individual or small group of proven evil doers with language that is intemperate and poorly chosen.

Racism is, in my opinion, demonstrated by actions. It is hinted at, sometimes incorrectly, by individual words.



I hope that this does not change your opinion of my fitness as company on the list.

g




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sunil Ramalingam" <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com>
Cc: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 9:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Godwin's Law Strikes Again!


> Gary,
> 
> Are racist slurs minor lapses of manner or tact?
> 
> I hope this question isn't considered trash talk, or 'self righteous, self 
> satisfied, school yard sputtering,' though you may well consider me an 
> additional player; happy to have you as company on that list.
> 
> Sunil
> 
> 
>>From: "g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net>
>>To: <debismith at moscow.com>, <suehovey at moscow.com>, <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>>CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
>>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Godwin's Law Strikes Again!
>>Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 20:07:27 -0800
>>
>>Extremely interesting. Should someone from the mildly conservative side of 
>>the fence have a minor lapse of manners or tact, the squealing and 
>>castigation rises to a level at which our canine friends experience 
>>profound and lasting aural pain.
>>
>>But on the other hand it's OK to demean the offender with a level of 
>>calumny several orders of magnitude greater then anything originally said. 
>>I mean really, when you feel you have to resort to not so subtly calling 
>>someone's mother a bitch along with the silly BS in the post to which I'm 
>>responding, you really have to wonder If Ms. Hovey, Ms. R-S, Mr. Fox, and 
>>the rest of the usual suspects have any sense of irony at all. Double 
>>standard risen to the power of hypocritical joke. What's even funnier is 
>>that this communication will likely raise the trash talk to the next level 
>>as well as spread it to additional players. Who needs comedy central when 
>>we've got the V.
>>
>>Commence self righteous, self satisfied, school yard sputtering,
>>g
>>
> 
> 
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