The Logic Off Topic list

I don't want to linger too much on this anymore but just a couple of points:

KA B [mailto:kab@...] wrote:


> As is surely obvious I am an African. I hope you will understand that,
> honestly, it is the insidious 'raindrop' effect that is oh-so-terribly
> wearing. It is a genuine reality of my life that every one in
> three people I
> meet is a bigot. I walk into a shop to make a simple purchase and I am
> expected to just laugh politely when someone makes a quite unnecessary
> remark about the colour of my skin.

Well in fact it's not obvious to me. In fact quite honestly I don't think
about what race people are on this list. That's possible partly where I went
wrong with my original remark! I find it very sad if you really mean 1 in 3,
in fact I find it hard to believe.


> immediately before the one in which you actually apologised, you went
> through that old and tired 'Some of my best friends are Spanish' routine.
> Please Phil ... can you but imagine HOW MANY TIMES I have had to
> endure this
> in my life.

That was precisely the point I was making. I don't know any Spanish people
(close enough to call friends) so I was asking do I need to stoop that low
to prevent offending people who I didn't feel had the need to be offended. I
hope you understand what I am getting at by this? If you read it again (if
you feel it important enough) I think you may realize what I meant.

Positive racialism is as bad as negative racialism. Personally I just think
it displays someone's profound weakness when they refer to people as
'pakies' or 'wogs' etc, (they are usually just doing it to divert attention
for their own inadequacies). I think however it is just as bad when you hear
someone say 'oh I don't know, they're not that bad, in fact my next door
neighbour is one and he's alright'.

Anyway...the times they are a changing...they wouldn't get away with 'Love
Thy Neighbour' anymore (the TV program), apart from the fact it was
completely unfunny in a comedy sense.

> The truth is, actually, that this is the third time that I have tried to
> join the Logic list.

Well I guess we both have to take the rough with the smooth if we are going
to be members of a multi-national community. I think there is far more non
racial abuse on the list than racial, and one would like to think the racial
is from a small minority who are quite welcome at any time to make a
complete ass of themselves.


> I have done absolutely nothing to earn the kind of insensitivity and
> crassness that I have seen displayed upon this list to people like me, and
> it would oblige me very greatly indeed if people would please make that
> little bit more effort to just STOP IT. All it takes is a little bit of
> thought. As Phil has said: he has learned a lesson. I just do not
> understand
> why we had to go through all this to learn it.

I agree, though I would like to remind you that mine was not racial and was
a remark about it being ONLY in Spanish rather than BEING in Spanish.

> And to you Phil, I would honestly like to say that if ever I pass
> you on the
> street then I would really rather like to stop and buy you a
> drink and just
> jaw for a while; and I do hope that what has just passed between
> us has not
> offended you so very greatly that you feel that you would really rather
> refuse it.

Well it would be a real coincidence if we did meet in the street one day,
but I'd be happy to have a drink and chat about music etc, or even Logic God
forbid!). It would be a sad day indeed if we ended up talking about racial
issues!

Regards,
Phil