wayne@ames.arpa (06/29/87)
In his mail on "HELP WITH MAILX --- URGENT!" Ed Mrozek writes:
As such, they would like to see secretaries manage the mail
for all of the people at a given site. They hope to accomplish
this by generating an id for the site and then letting the sec.
do her thing. I argue that she can do this by means of our
menu system.
Now I am not a particularly strong advocate of women's rights, and
am in fact AGAINST such cruft as "affirmative action", but things
like the above just absolutely drive me up the wall! I am sure that
Mr. Mrozek did not MEAN to categorize all secretaries as "she", but
nevertheless he DID it. Subconscious sex discrimination is no better
than overt discrimination! (And by the way, I seriously doubt that
this is a case of knowing that all the secretaries are in fact female;
the original posting alluded to users being "scattered over the entire
state at roughly 160 sites.")
Perhaps I am overly sensitive to this. My wife used to work in the
data processing department of San Jose Hospital, and whenever anybody
heard the word "hospital" they immediately asked "Oh, are you a nurse?"
Since nobody particularly associates hospitals with data processing,
this seems reasonable, right? Well, I strongly disagree -- because in
all the years she was there, not one single person ever asked "Oh, are
you a doctor?"!
I guess I should have started this with "FLAME ON", and I really don't
mean to pick on Mr. Mrozek, but good grief, if the EDUCATED populace
is so thoughtless what hope is there among the "great unwashed"?
Anyway, FLAME OFF; sorry I couldn't help with the mailx problem.
Wayne Hathaway wayne@Ultra.COM
Ultra Corporation
2140 Bering drive or pre-domain-server:
San Jose, CA 95131 ultra!wayne@Ames.ARPA
408-922-0100emrozek@ecsvax.UUCP (Ed Mrozek) (06/30/87)
In article <8097@brl-adm.ARPA>, ultra!wayne@ames.arpa (Wayne Hathaway) writes: > In his mail on "HELP WITH MAILX --- URGENT!" Ed Mrozek writes: > > As such, they would like to see secretaries manage the mail > for all of the people at a given site. They hope to accomplish > this by generating an id for the site and then letting the sec. > do her thing. I argue that she can do this by means of our > menu system. > > Now I am not a particularly strong advocate of women's rights, and > am in fact AGAINST such cruft as "affirmative action", but things > like the above just absolutely drive me up the wall! I am sure that > Mr. Mrozek did not MEAN to categorize all secretaries as "she", but > nevertheless he DID it. Subconscious sex discrimination is no better > than overt discrimination! (And by the way, I seriously doubt that > this is a case of knowing that all the secretaries are in fact female; > the original posting alluded to users being "scattered over the entire > state at roughly 160 sites.") Now listen, I have posted several articles that have touched on this sensitive area. I do not discriminate! Period! Over! Did you get that? Several times I have asked that that discussion be carried on in other groups where it is of interest (don't take that out of context). Now let me put you straight. I DO KNOW THAT ALL THE SECRATERIES THAT I DEAL WITH ARE FEMALE. That includes those at all of the 160 sites that I mentioned. I know this because I also manage the processing of all personnel and affirmative action data for my organization. Also, I don't think that you will find an organization that is as careful about discrimination as the organization I am associated with; and that care is expressed by all of the employees, including myself. Now to the point. Who was thoughtless? Me for refering to a group using the appropriate pronouns for their gender, or you for thinking that you know the user community that I am dealing with? Lastly, and I do hope that this is the last of this foolishness, I do not want to be responsible for wasting bandwith, time, energy, money or any other commodity the will be consumed by furthering this discussion. There are many other news groups where this discussion is appropriate and there are many others where this topic is being covered in raging discussions. I suggest if you have that stake to pound, go pound it there. If you feel you must scold me, spare the rest of the community and do it by mail. Thank you all in advance. Ed Mrozek Extension Specialist Supervisor Extension Computer Services Box 7626 North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7626 These comments are my own. If you want them, take them and good l> th#! > P