Everyone, please read: Will & Scottie especially!

Oy, some days I regret opening a conversation and then turning away!
The world blows up!

Will said:

>Scottie, I don't appreciate being referred to in the way you wrote.
>I'm a Jewish man and your use of a derogatory term is wrong and
>offends me. You owe it to me and all the others on this list to
>avoid using such hurtful terms. I can guess you meant your post as a
>joke about the relatively few email posts, but I'm not laughing.

Because Scottie said:

> (Yes, CHRISTMAS dammit - & all you yids,
> wogs, chinks & hand-wringing atheists can fuck off.)

and followed with an explanation:

> Yes, indeed, Will, I haven't the slightest intention
> of apologising. The yids & wogs (only one chink,
> I'm afraid) whom I've loved in my life - & who,
> I have good reason to believe, loved me - were
> very happy to trade parallel 'insults', confident they
> would be understood as the tokens of rough affection
> some of us are easiest with - but which are, of course,
> lost on a professionally sensitive soul such as yourself.

Perhaps I'm out on some limb here but as the caretaker of this list,
I feel compelled to say something, and will no doubt have everyone
hate me and nobody like the resolution. Oh, where to begin?

Scottie, like you, I also dislike the delicate frenzy that happens
when someone says something we refer to here as "politically
incorrect" -- a very wry expression when I use it. I don't feel that
we need to run everything through some mechanism that will reduce all
we say to some inoffensive slurry of bland words. I don't like the
way people have set themselves up as police to fight what might be
considered offensive to the delicate souls.

HOWEVER, what you said might have been fine among your
barracks-mates, all of whom might be equally insulting, all of whom
might go out for a drink after.

This isn't those barracks nor is it the R.A.F. What you said was of
course intended to pull pony-tails, literal and proverbial. But you
haven't established the necessary camaraderie to carry it off. All
it does is come out stinking foully. I'm not even in one of those
categories and I thought it in poor taste.

We have in this crazy country of mine a notion I cherish, which is
one of protected, free speech -- and I believe in it. I believe a
person can make an ass of himself and still be permitted to speak it.
But you face the consequences of other, equally impassioned speech.
I wouldn't take any action against anyone because of a thoughtless
comment -- it's what we pay to have this freedom of speech. But I
will call you on it and say that it is inappropriate here to say what
you said. There are people who come to this list expecting respect
and dignity. Since there are subscribers here who don't have a
history with you, your comment simply comes off as an ignorant,
low-class slur. I know it's not intended to be so, and you're not
ignorant nor low-class. But it hurts some people -- especially those
who most listened to you with trust. My wife is, like Will, Jewish,
and while she's not on this list right now, she might well have taken
offense to what you said. People who come here for respite shouldn't
have to feel on their guards against your abuse -- and I don't wish
to be a marionette explaining you away. Your comments were out of
line. Please don't do it any more; if you want to be so hale and
hearty, do it privately, and that includes to me, if you need to get
in a last word.

Will, I think Scottie thinks he's being one of the rough & tumble
guys, and I genuinely don't think he will ever know the offense you
and others feel at his slurs unless more people speak out. This
isn't a case of "political correctness"; it's someone being outright
offensive, and delighting in playing bad boy. I hope you will follow
the wise comment of a Supreme Court justice whose name escapes me
(Brandeis? Holmes?) and who said that the answer to "hate speech" is
more speech. The solution is not to silence the person -- it is to
call him to task for his words. If there are others who feel
offended or hurt, speak out. I surely cannot be anyone's portable
conscience. I'm not going to do anything as "list caretaker" except
speak out this way. But I cannot stand idly by while people behave
offensively, and on a list, it happens that to a great degree, words
are deeds. Speech counts for more than it would in the physical
world.

Scottie, I'm fond of you and I hope you know that I don't have a
delicate stomach, nor do I stand for censorship. I'd prefer to speak
out again and again unless the behavior interferes with regular
business. It is my feeling as observer and bystander, and as someone
who genuinely likes you as a friend, that you crossed a line in your
mail, because this isn't the rugged back-and-forth of your mates. If
you said this to me privately, I might answer you back accordingly.
But in the public forum, you are wrong, and you know it, and you even
delight in it. Let this stop now, and do anything further privately,
not in the context of the list.

Will, your objection is noted, and I hope you will resume reading ALL
the mail you get.

For everyone else: Surely there are more than 3 of us who react?
Please weigh in with your reactions. If you can speak of your
favorite musician (perhaps even to comment on the death of Clash
leader Joe Strummer), then where is your opinion of this? Or is only
a tiny group genuinely taken aback?

This was awkward and difficult to write because the personalities are
my friends, and because I object to condemning free speech solely
because it offends me. But if we can't speak out about our
objections, then we have no business trumpeting our devotion to free
speech. And if this costs me a friend, I'm sorry, but I try to speak
what I believe. Even when it gets me in trouble.

It is my wish that you will all come to peace. Or something like it.

I do care for you all as friends, those whom I know, or as a
potential friend, for those whom I do not know. Can we come to a
reasonable settlement on this? I will not resort to slurs, and I'll
object to them out of principle. But that's just me. For the rest,
if you wish to throw invective, do it privately, PLEASE.

Thank you.

TIM O'CONNOR

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Received on Mon Dec 23 16:05:12 2002