gl8f@astsun.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) (09/17/90)
I thought that the moderators were going to keep personal stuff out of the group? [We keep flame wars out. What constitutes personal stuff varies with each person. Since we post both pro and con views on feminism, there will inevitably be conflicts between the two. The original poster's article could be taken as a personal attack, or it could be taken as representative of a negative stance on feminism, attacking feminism in general. Considering an attack to be general or personal is a subjective call to make, and there is no way for moderators to make "perfect" choices all the time. -- CLT] In any case, could everyone PLEASE remember that it's possible to have an opinion different from someone else without having having to *attack* the other person's views and call them names. People posting to this group are generally talking about their life experiences; saying "No, you didn't really experience that" isn't very constructive. Examples of what I'm talking about: >Why are you so touchy about this? For what reason do you attribute >some kind of "belittling" meaning to this word? I am sure that the >vast majority of the users (and listeners for that matter) of the word >"girl" see nothing derogatory about it. People have a right to be touchy about things. There's nothing wrong with that. >"Ladies" being used as a "weapon"? Gimme a break. I have always used >the word as a term connotating respect (like "gentlemen"). The original author knows people who don't use it that way. The original author probably knows people who think they're using it with respect. Just because someone describes behavior that is not universal does not mean the behavior does not exist. [On the other hand, the person is describing his own experiences. This is why these kinds of lines are hard to draw. -- CLT] > Your >crying about the fact that people use words with different meanings >than you do is likely to do nothing but inspire bitterness toward >people for whom it is unwarranted. If I know I'm going to be accused of "crying" if I post my opinions here, I might be detered from posting. Also, the writer is accusing someone else of causing problems because they expressed their opinion. > Perhaps it is the fact that the ideas of >equal rights for women have been so universally accepted that the only >thing left for the activists to get outraged over is petty word games. Here the writer essentially calls the original poster "petty". Again, if I'm going to get called names for expressing an opinion, I might be detered from posting. Let's see a little more good discussion and a lot less contentless argument. This metadiscussion brought to you by the People Who Got Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed Society. :-) -- "Perhaps I'm commenting a bit cynically, but I think I'm qualified to." - Dan Bernstein