Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/03

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Subject: Re: [Leica] the latest madness
From: Rob Heyman <rheyman@bigpond.net.au>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 19:05:16 +1000
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20020902201508.00a2b0c0@pop.2alpha.net>

Wow!! That is right on the money and beautifully stated.

Peter Klein wrote:

> What we have just seen here on the LUG is yet another example of the cancer
> of political correctness.  There is a class of intellectual Stalinists who
> believe that a person should lose their job, their reputation and their
> place in the community if they *ever* are caught making even *one* remark
> that could in *any* way be construed to be offensive to anyone whose
> forbears have ever suffered at the hands of the majority.
>
> I have seen such people close up in university and public sector
> environments.  The problem is that they rarely expose any real
> bigots.  They usually just ruin the life of some poor schmuck who happened
> to make an inappropriate remark due to fatigue, anger, use of a linguistic
> construct that they grew up with but has fallen out of vogue, or the fact
> that we all say stupid things sometimes.
>
> Even worse are the people who use P.C. not to right past wrongs, but simply
> as a tool to gain power, cow their opponents, and denigrate others.  Or
> simply to cause trouble.
>
> There is plenty of real bigotry to fight in the world.  Being part of the
> Linguistic Thought Police does not aid in that fight.  It trivializes
> it.  It creates a distracting side show of tarring and feathering and
> making an example of someone. Meanwhile, real bigotry, much more skillful
> at concealing itself, continues unabated.  And many ordinary people become
> so disgusted with the side shows that when real bigotry is exposed, they
> think someone is just crying wolf.
>
> So, to the one who started this, and to his amen corner,
> congratulations.  Because of his one mildly inappropriate remark, you've
> managed to purge the LUG of one of its finest members.  Don't you feel
> proud of yourselves?
>
> --Peter
>
> At 03:32 PM 9/2/02 -0700, Mark Rabiner wrote (and I heartily agree):
> >And Ted has been the voice of calm humane reason on the LUG for years
> >and years and years. He's a great professional photographer (we've got
> >lots of those here don't we?) and a great man. I saw he got angry about
> >something in the last week or so and that's completely unusual for him.
> >I'd assume perhaps he had a reason? What if he made a mistake!?! Wow!
> >I'd assume the people who attack him are people who are new to the list
> >and don't know who he is and what he means to the list.
>
> --
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In reply to: Message from Peter Klein <pklein@2alpha.net> (Re: [Leica] the latest madness)