richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) (11/29/88)
In article <1101@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> nmg@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu.UUCP (Nancy M Gould) writes: >In article <8980@gryphon.COM> byte@gryphon.COM (Byte Felinus) writes: > > >>1. Why? > >It's called politeness and consideration for the feelings of >others. Define politeness and consideration for the feelings of others. >>2. How does one determine what jokes "other ethnic groups" find >> offensive? Who is the authoratative spokesperson for an ethnic >> group? > >No one person can be the authority. I think it just depends on how >many people complain. If the number is significant, maybe the joke >really is offensive. Define a significant number.
greg@gryphon.COM (Greg Laskin) (11/29/88)
In article <9061@gryphon.COM> richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >In article <1101@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> nmg@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu.UUCP (Nancy M Gould) writes: >>In article <8980@gryphon.COM> byte@gryphon.COM (Byte Felinus) writes: >>>1. Why? >>It's called politeness and consideration for the feelings of >>others. >Define politeness and consideration for the feelings of others. The definition is not particularly important. I wouldn't intentionally offend Nancy were I a guest in her home (and I probably would not continue to be welcome in her home were I to intentionally offend her there). However, this is a public place where the situation is a bit different. Satire and humor is a protected form (in the U.S.) of expression. The Supreme Court recently ruled (in a case involving Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine and a very raunchy cartoon casting aspersions upon the sexual habits of a famous person) essentially that the more outrageous the expression, the more protected it was (in the context of what is a libelous statement). The point here is that we can all agree that a particular joke may have offended you and that it may be inconsiderate and impolite to do so, but in a public forum, there is simply no guarantee or requirement that people be considerate or polite. There are various rules, regulations and laws extant that taken collectively define civilized behavior. In our rather secular society, none of the rules proscribe impoliteness in the general case. (There may be some local regulations that come into play on a site by site basis. Some sites might have disciplined a user for posting the now infamous joke, but that is a local matter.) > >>>2. How does one determine what jokes "other ethnic groups" find >>> offensive? Who is the authoratative spokesperson for an ethnic >>> group? >> >>No one person can be the authority. I think it just depends on how >>many people complain. If the number is significant, maybe the joke >>really is offensive. > >Define a significant number. > This is a more interesting question. On this network, it is possible for a few offended persons to stir up lots of traffic. I've counted maybe 10 "offended" posters and maybe 20 "unoffended" posters. Since the sample is self-selecting, it's difficult to ascribe any significance to the numbers. How then would you suggest that we determine whether a "significant" number of people have complained. >>> During the few years that I've been on this network, there have been a few instances of real racism, sexism, homophobia, and general unfriendliness. The reaction of the Usenet community to these events have demonstrated that the community is quite capable of recognizing and dealing with such real lapses of good taste. In this case, the propriety of the events that have generated all of the traffic on this subject, seem to me to be well within the accepted boundaries of the normal differences of opinion that occur here. -- Greg Laskin greg@gryphon.COM <routing site>!gryphon!greg gryphon!greg@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov