F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.43 (24-Oct-1994)

F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.43 (24-Oct-1994)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and |
| (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 |
| | | \ \\ | |
| | (*) | \ )) | Editrix: |
| |__U__| / \// | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/192 |
| _//|| _\ / | Donald Tees 1:221/194 |
| (_/(_|(____/ | Tim |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia -- [email protected] |
| Don -- [email protected] |
| Tim Pozar -- [email protected] |
| David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411, [email protected] |
| submissions=> [email protected] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Table of Contents
========================================================================

1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Planet Connect.............................................. 2
What the hell is happening to Fido?......................... 3
MILPOL NET INTERNATIONAL.................................... 9
I'm baaaaa-aaack!........................................... 4
Copyright ? Copywrite ?.................................... 6
09 Oct 01:51:26 NOBO Msg 27: found FUCK.................... 7
Bullshit?................................................... 10
Slavenet - A New Network.................................... 11
squibby..................................................... 12
WORDS with Madam Emilia..................................... 12
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 14
FidoNews 11-43 Page: 2 24 Oct 1994

========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
Please notice the criticism of my holding copyright for Fidonews. i
think it is very interesting, so this week i'm changing the message
to "copyleft", to see if the sky will fall. After looking at the
recent issue of Practical Anarchy Online, i'm not convinced it was
the best thing for me to do to have gotten an ISSN number for
fidonews. I would very much appeciate reading opinions concerning
the use of copyright and its effects in e-space.

My reasoning/rhetoric for leaving the copyright message in place
most of the time, is that i do not want Fidonews to be used for
commercial purposes. "Fidonet is a hobby", cycles through my mind
as i attempt to believe this.

I would like to apologize to the Terminator for failing to grant him
his well deserved torching for addressing his article in 1142 to
"Gentlemen", and thank Joseph Klemmer for his gentle and amusing
shedding of light. Dear Terminator, here is your due tribute:

FFFFFFFFFF / * \
FFF / * \
FFF / * \
FFFFFFFFF < * * * * * * * * * * * >
FFF \ * * * * * * * * /
FFF \ * ***** * * * * * * * * * /
FFF \ * * * * * * * /
FFF \ * * * * * * * * * * /

========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================

PLANET CONNECT

First of all, I agree with you about "putting all our eggs in one
basket" with Planet Connect. At the same time, though, it sure is
convenient to have a one stop shopping place for Fido and other
networks.

Jumping into the Censorship fray, I find it a little curious that
some people are getting annoyed by Planet Connect performing the same
screening function on messages that many sysops already perform
anyway. Why should they be barred from doing it on a national basis
when others do it on a local basis?

Furthermore, there seems to be a misunderstanding of the First
Amendment (I can't speak on the Canadian Charter of Rights since I've
never read it). It reads in part "Congress shall make no law...
abridging the freedom of speech or of the press..." This means simply
that the government has no Constitutional grounds restricting what we
say or write. This does NOT stop individuals or businesses from
imposing restrictions.

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 3 24 Oct 1994

On a Constitutional basis, Planet Connect is well within its rights
to scan and delete what it considers to be offensive messages.

Saying that, I am rather concerned if these allegations turn out to
be correct. I am under the impression that Planet Connect is a
pass-through service, not an actual Fidonode. If that's the case,
then they should let the local sysops worry over scanning messages.
Even if they are a Fidonode, they may be in violation of Fido Policy.

I look forward to hearing Planet Connect's response to these
allegations and hope a reasonable solution can be reached.

Robert Parson
Author BBS-PR16.ZIP: The BBS Guide to Public Relations
Jackalope Junction BBS 501 785 5381 (Fido 1:3822/1)
Internet [email protected]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: RICK LITHGOW (1:2601/574)

Hey Editor

What the hell is happening to FIDO?

It's really amazing ya know? FIDO was started by a bunch of people
to message back and fourth and have conferences of general interest.
But in the last year it's really gone down hill with the amount of
juvenile pranks and maliciousness of some people out there and the
C's aren't anywhere to be found!

First off, Steve (Holy Roller) Winter finally gets kicked out of
FIDO, HOLY_BIBLE gets yanked out of the FIDONET.NA list and yet some
of his brethren are still blatantly routing NETMAIL to him as well
as gating FIDO to him. This is in contrast to POLICY 4 and yet
Bob Satti and every other *C is no-where to be found or they're
not willing to stick to their guns concerning him. After talking with
a few head honchos at the EFF their position is not to support Winter
in any type of lawsuit that may come about. And according to one honcho
over there (who wishes to remain nameless) they unofficially feel that
it's a case of, "It's their ball and they don't have to share it if
they don't want to". So the *C's shouldn't be afraid of the goob.
Geez guys do something about blatant policy infractions!!!

Secondly. How about the proliferation of "The NuKe" Boys,
AKA. The Puke Boys, and their juvenile msg tampering in the echoes??
Specifically in VIRUS_INFO and the other virus echoes on FIDO.
For the last month they've been crossing legitimate message headers
with adult messages (probably from kink-net) and releasing them into
the normal echoes. Now the first time it was funny, but after 700
straight messages about enema's and golden showers it's gotten

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 4 24 Oct 1994

extremely stale to the point of annoyance. This whole barrage is
pretty bad. Again, where are the *C's?

So the final questions are... Where are the *C's? Do they even
care about FIDO as a whole anymore? Do the *C's care about anything?
Are they so concerned about the implementation of BOP and masturbation
that they don't have time do stop this crap? Geez people, get off your
asses and give us a hand in trying to make FIDO a respectable network
again. Because FIDO will fall apart without the help of the *C's and
everyone else who wants FIDO back to it's good old self.

Regards.
Rick Lithgow
1:2601/574

<-I used to be a necrophilliac.. Then I got a divorce!->

Rick Lithgow (Internet) [email protected]

* WCE 2.0/2295 * * * * <- Tribbles _ _ _ <- After fight with Godzilla

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm baaaaa-aaack!

Matt Ion (1:153/7040.106)

Good morning, Sylvia! How you doing? Guess it's been a while
since I've shown my smiling character set around here, but then, the
'snooze (apporpriately) has been pretty dull of late. Did ya miss me?
:-)

Ah, but finally, iss.#1142 gives me a couple brief things to
comment on. BTW, I don't feel like digging up ARTSPEC.DOC today. Hope
you don't mind too much. Seems most people just ignore it anyway.

Interesting stuff, these Planet Connect goings-on. Irritating?
Sure. Frightening? Hardly. Not unless, as Kevin McCarthy puts it,
"it turns out that the Fido structure itself has "ok'd" this type of
activity, and Planet Connect is acting on the demands of said Fido
structure..."... well now, THAT'S frightening.

Really, we're not talking about a government agency gone amok (or
maybe we are? Who really knows??? >:) - we're talking about a
commercial service that is apparently screwing up the job they're being
paid to do. If any other company does that, you drop their "services"
like a hot rock. If their mistakes (intentional or otherwise) have
caused damage, you demand compensation (give us our money back?) and,
if necessary, take it through legal channels (I suppose one could make
a case for a large cash award to FidoNet to cover the phone costs that
must now be incurred since PC's actions have deprived us all of the
cheap mail we were promised).

It's not like we're really going to be left out in the cold,
though. I know Net153 has a solid contingency plan in place to return

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 5 24 Oct 1994

to the use of land-lines at a moment's notice, should the satellite
system fail; remember, this is still a very new technology for moving
mail, and open to all manner of technical difficulties, both natural
and man-made. Any Nets that DON'T have a land-line-based contingency
plan in place, IMHO, are stupid and deserve the loss of mail anyway if
this whole thing falls apart. Knowing how capable our Net153 and R17
*EC personnel are, however, I suspect we could return to the old system
without a hitch and barely a hiccup in the mail. Heck, outbound R17
mail still flows via land-line.

Mr. McCarthy makes his point quite well, but I think a couple
Vallium are in order. It's only a hobby, Kevin, and we're not
umbilically(??) tied to Planet Connect.

On to other things. I really enjoyed Chris Cancilla's letter
(BTW, Chris, that's "Patience", not "Patients" ... or maybe you are a
"patient" after banging your head on your monitor so many times? :) I
was pretty much out in the cold when I starting using my modem back in,
oh, early '88 or so. Not much help from sysops, although I did have the
good fortune to make some of my first calls to boards that seemed to be
set up with the new user in mind... and of course, I've always been
quite intimate with my trusty old C-64, so there were no surprises from
her.

Because of my experiences, I, like Chris, try to help out new users
on my system as much as I can, too. I've tried to make the system as
friendly to new users as possible, although I can't help in chat much,
since the system is not at my home and I'm pretty much a "remote sysop".

In the end, the overwhelming gratitude and loyalty to my system of
most of the users I help is worth the extra work.

Finally, a comment on Vern Faulkner's "logical deduction". I
believe he's misread, misinterpreted, or misquoted "Mr. Terminator's"
point in regards to the ANTI_VIRUS echo. You point to such other
"commercial" echoes as FRONTDOOR, RA, PKWARE, etc. As I don't receive
any of these, I can't comment on them specifically, but I know that most
support echoes of this type (including the ones I do pull in, such as
SUPRAFAX) are not run by the company they're "supporting", and not, as
Mr. Hamm claims ANTI_VIRUS is in his letter, moderated to the exclusion
of all other conversation.

SUPRAFAX, for example, was created by a friend of mine who had
just bought a new Supra modem and wanted to create an echo to get help
for it from other Supra users. It took close to a year of prodding and
cajoling to get Supra BBS to add FTN capability to their BBS and pick up
the echo... and even now, Supra Corp. doesn't hold any special position
in the echo. A few of their tech-support people are users in the echo,
just like any other users, and Supra BBS just happens to be the point at
which they access it. (Incidentally, one or two of their tech-support
personnel became active in the echo via another BBS even before Supra
BBS carried it.) Again, they still fall under the same "non-commercial"
guidelines as all the other users of the echo, with the exception that
they may post product announcements and press releases, things that
normally get posted by users anyway.

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 6 24 Oct 1994

The same holds true for MUFFIN, BINKLEY, and other support echoes
I'm in: they were created, and are run, by USERS of the software they
support. That they are occaisionally attended by the authors of that
software is just a bonus.

The very echotag "ANTI_VIRUS" suggests an echo in which to discuss
anti-virus technology and techniques, PERIOD. From Mr. Hamm's letter, it
appears that discussion of any type of anti-virus software aside from
Thunderbyte leaves the poster open to serious reprisals from the moderator.
What's wrong with this picture?

Of course, I can only comment on this topic based on what I've read
in the past two issues...

Anyway, enough of that. I think I'm going to go out and enjoy
some fresh air... it's been kind of foggy/misty all day. Typical
early-fall-type day on Canada's west coast. Quite refreshing. As one
of my BBS users, recently moved here from California put it, the city
remains "freshly rinsed"
:)

Matt Ion
'The Soundman'
-= Team OS/2 =-

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright ? Copywrite ?

I hate to be the one to say this Sylvia, but you do not have the
authority to "copyright" fidonews. It is the official news arm of
fidonet and as such is not subject to a copyright of any kind.

Since you have decided to copyright something you do not own. I am
refusing distribute the fidonews in its' present copyrighted form.

Thank you

Jerry Hindle

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 7 24 Oct 1994

PLANET CONNECT DID NOT CENSOR ECHOMAIL!!

Planet Connect did NOT censor echomail!
by Lee Bonnifield, 1:3615/50.1, Planet Systems Inc

Relax, folks, Planet Connect never censored the echomail and has no
intentions to! Those messages were DELIVERED. I'll explain the
confusion but if you're in a hurry here's the post that reassured
everyone who was paying attention:

--- Following message extracted from PCSITES @ 1:3615/50.1 ---
By Lee Bonnifield on Fri Oct 14 15:11:12 1994
From: Boyd Goodin
To: Randy Edwards
Date: 13 Oct 94 21:32:20
Subj: Re: Censorship?
Attributes:
> What other criteria, besides 20 day old messages, are used in the
> deletion scheme?

> Specifically, what words are you censoring out? Could you give me
> a list of swear/cuss words that you're censoring?

From now on none. I have removed it and will only be using NOBO
as a dupe checker.

..Boyd

--- DB 1.58/004770
Origin: Planet Connect Satellite Uplink. Newport Tn. SATU.(1:3615/50)

Boyd Goodin is the sysop at 1:3615/50 and the Technical Director at
Planet Systems. Actually no words had been censored "out", just
delayed for technical reasons, not for purity.

Here's what happened. It is not a long story; the first post I noticed
mentioning the issue was in PCSITES just 2 days earlier. An alert
Planet Connect sysop had been examining the daily NOBOGUS.LOG file he
received on Oct 9. Planet Connect sends that log out multiple times
every day and requests that every sysop check it to see if any of the
messages they send to Planet Connect fail to meet technical standards.
(Are you tired of seeing duplicates of messages? THAT is what the
NOBOGUS program is trying to stop.) If every sysop would search for
his node number in NOBOGUS.LOG daily and FIX the mail problems coming
from his system BEFORE he sends them to Planet Connect Boyd might get
needed sleep.

This sysop was doing just that and noticed the log listed several
messages that came thru his node:

09 Oct 01:51:26 NOBO Msg 25: found FUCK
09 Oct 01:51:26 NOBO Msg 26: found FUCK
09 Oct 01:51:26 NOBO Msg 27: found FUCK

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 8 24 Oct 1994

He wondered why they were included in Planet Connect's NOBOGUS.LOG
because there was nothing wrong with the messages. He quoted a piece
of the log in his PCSITES message, deliberately including the word
"FUCK" spelled out exactly as it had been sent to him by Planet
Connect, because he wanted to see if that would cause his message to
be censored. John Hrusovszky was the alert sysop, and his query and
later responses in PCSITES were entirely reasonable, because the way
Planet Connect used NOBOGUS had not been explained.

Here's an excerpt from what he posted two days later, after he
received a reply to his PCSITES post.

JH> Does this indicate that PC is censoring mail?

DO> Calm down John, while I can't speak totally for Boyd, I will
DO> say that this is a common means of screening for bogus messages
DO> since most if not all if them are cross post from adult links.
DO> When a high percentage of the packet contains these type of
DO> words, it's time to quaranteen it until it can be more closely
DO> examined. At worst it may delay the processing slightly. At
DO> best it can eliminate another batch of bogus messages.

JH> If that is all it was doing ... slowing down for closer scrutiny,
JH> I have no problem with that.

The same day, Boyd confirmed that. He was answering RE's questions
about how the NOBOGUS program is used by MANY hubs for standardizing
echomail:

RE> I also have to wonder about killing messages due to a bad, or
RE> old, date. How many times has a Sysop's CMOS gone screwy
RE> botching up the date? If that happens and someone's date is
RE> messed up, are we just to kill off that node's messages because
RE> the Sysop didn't notice that her/his clock was off until s/he
RE> got home from work?

BG> Messages older than 20 days get deleted. Every star runs it
BG> that late and they also do the four letter word thing. This is
BG> mainly for crossposted messages.

The "four letter word thing" does NOT delete messages! Boyd and the
other stars use it to SET ASIDE mail packets for inspection because
there is a high probability the packet is BOGUS. If inspection shows
the packet is technically valid (like JH's packet was) then it is put
back into the datastream. Due to the way Planet Connect processes the
mail it is delivered only one day later than it would have been if it
had not triggered NOBOGUS.

NOBOGUS is not perfect! If it could identify exactly which packets
contain messages that were not written for the echo they are about to
be posted in, sysops who use NOBOGUS would not have to use the inexact
tricks like looking for "FUCK".

In case you haven't figured out the connection, apparently there are
people who like to disrupt Fidonet. They "bomb" an echo by flooding it
FidoNews 11-43 Page: 9 24 Oct 1994

with duplicate messages or garbage messages. If the messages don't
look well-formed they won't get past the quality control software that
mail hubs run. So to save themselves effort the crackers take a block
of messages from somewhere else and tamper with them enough so that
they will make it into the bombed echo. Enough of these juvenile
crackers are excited/obsessed by "adult" topics that that is where
they get their bogus messages, from an adult forum. It happens often
enough that the word "FUCK" is a good indicator for spotting bogus
packets.

I hope you understand now that censorship has never been Planet
Connect's purpose or practice. To avoid confusion Boyd reconfigured
NOBOGUS so that it does not delay mail because it contains special
words. The messages were never deleted for that reason.

Also please note how quickly this issue made it into FidoNews! And
with such emphasis, even an editorial! I saw FidoNews 11-42 come over
Planet Connect on October 17, four days after Boyd had resolved the
questions that were first raised on October 10. I'll bet that the
volume of the complaints against Planet Connect in that issue were
longer than all the related intelligent comments that appeared in
PCSITES where the topic was raised and answered within 3 days. And no
doubt we will all see MANY MORE posts trying to raise anger against
Planet Connect. I see there has already been speculation that this use
of NOBOGUS reveals that Planet Connect is a CIA front. :-) You should
wonder if there are some ex-bigshot landline hubs with KNIVES OUT for
Planet Connect, spreading rumors whenever they can think one up.
Expect many more, but relax; Planet Connect has never censored
echomail.

This article has been approved by Boyd and the president of
Planet Systems, Joe Overholt. You can netmail them at 1:3615/50.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

MILPOL NET INTERNATIONAL

by Martin Riley
MILITARY/POLICE NET INTERNATIONAL.

Hi all.

My name is Martin Riley and I am the International Coordinator
for Milpol Network International. Milpol comes from two words:
(Mil)itary and (Pol)ice.
Milpol Network International is a young, serious, and growing
Network dedicated to serving those who are in uniform, whether
they happen to be in retired or active service is of no matter.
Milpol Net was started during 1994 in Calgary, Alberta Canada,
by myself, a Canadian military veteran.
In Milpol network you will find a small but dedicated group of
individuals who all share a common goal...That of providing a
avenue of fellowship for Military and Police personnel, whether
that be via E-Mail conversations on one of Milpol's many diverse

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 10 24 Oct 1994

echoes, or via our file support line.
We are currently looking for nodes in Canada, the USA. Nodes
from other nations are also more than welcome as well. Here is
some minor information on Milpol Network:

(A) MilPol Network is open to everyone regardless of nationality,
age, race, color or creed. Although MilPol Network International
is geared towards service men and women, past or present Military
or Police experience is not required to join Milpol Net.

(B) Milpol Network carries over 20 echoes on several different
topics. Echoes include our locally famous "Red neck echo" to
other echoes that contain information on hobbies, gaming,
firearms, and small unit Military and Police tactics.
Veteran echoes for operation Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea, and
WWII are also represented and supported within Milpol Network.

Unlike other Military or Police Networks, there is no time
consuming application processing down time, there are no
network board members to vote on your application based on
previous Military or Police records.
Milpol's application file is contained in it's information
packet, and is approved when it arrives, no questions asked,
and no delays.

I would ask you to please consider joining us, not only for
the bettering of your BBS with a quality network such as Milpol
Net, but also for the Military and Police personnel in your
area. If you feel you would like to become part of our growing
network, then please file request MILPOL.ZIP from 1:134/98 Fido
or contact me via Net mail and I will more than happy to send
you our information packet on my dime.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Martin Riley
International Coordinator,
Milpol Network International.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Bullshit?

RICK LITHGOW (1:2601/574)
Hey Editor

Something is of a bullshitish nature amongst FIDO/Planet Connect.
After reading the snooze and it's barage of messages from people upset
with Pc's possible censorship of echomail and the fact my PC reciever
is do here tommorrow(10/19/94) I felt it in my best interests to call
back Planet Connect and find out what the hell was going on. Well,
whom should answer the phone but Mr. Joe Overholt, the owner of planet
systems himself.
Mr. Overholt seems to be a very nice and reasonable person and
FidoNews 11-43 Page: 11 24 Oct 1994

I point blank asked him what the hell was going on. I told him about
the most recent FIDO news and what alot of the complaints were about and
he was very interested in what I had to say. He was also very distressed
and informed me in no way was any mail being censored. He did tell me
that they were using Nobogus to check for dupes, but in no uncertain
terms were they deleteing msgs that had shit, fuck, cunt, etc... in
them. He also told me he was going to get togeather an offical response
to post in the major Sysop echoes as well as one for The Snooze. I hope
this alleviates some peoples concerns of censorship via PC.
Now for something even more interesting. As I was reading the
snooze I noticed that The Terminator posted PC's Nobogus log. A few
things came to mind.
1>The Terminator and the NuKe boys (AKA. PUKE boys) have been
cross crosslinking echoes from kinknet and the such into the virus
echoes. The msgs consisted of normal msg headers with the msgs
scrambled to talk about golden showers and enemas. These are very
juvenile pranks.
2>The Terminator as also been identified as an imature idiot
whom has nothing better to do than such as the above and flaming people
whenever he get's the chance.
3>How the fuck would he get a legitamate copy of Planet Connects
No Bogus log? I doubt very much if he broke into their system and stole
it. More than likely it was manufactured to stir up controversy like
the Steve Winter Article.
Cmon people, something is definatly amiss. Mr. overholt did say
he isn't carrying the Alt.Binaries groups right now because of possible
legal actions against beaming into certain "Bible Belt states". But
that's about it. So before everyone goes into hysterics. Please call Joe
Overholt and confirm whats going on from him before you decide to
crucify anyone. As for me, I'm reserving judgement, and I may start
throwing a dummy msg here and there to certain people and find out if
they got it via the echo. If not, then I think we should investigate.

Regards
Rick Lithgow (Internet) [email protected]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

SLAVENET - A NEW NETWORK

by Jerry Fairfield - 1:352/601
Slavenet - A New and Different Network

******************* Announcing **************************************

Slavenet - A network devoted to and for those either in or interested
in the lifestyle of the Dominant and submissive types. This network
was formed to bring together for support and amusement of all those
individuals who consider this lifestyle of interest.

Slavenet was the fruitful development of a couple of submissives with
too much time on their hands...or shall I say their minds. The
conferences were developed with that in mind and gave voice to those
who would otherwise not know of each other's existence. It's premice

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 12 24 Oct 1994

is to advise, cultivate and bring together the community of those who
desire to live this lifestyle. This obviously is directed to the more
mature users of your BBS. Therefore, it is required that the System
Operator be of the age of majority in your given location.

An example of conferences provided are; Chatter, where all may meet
and mingle; Dominants, where the Masters and Mistresses meet to
discuss their techniques and methods; Slaves, we all know how they like
to chatter among themselves; Training, for Doms and subs alike; Events,
to announce and report special occasions and get togethers; Personals,
for those looking for new Masters or slaves.

If you like what you see, or have users that might enjoy meeting with
others, file request the information packet available at Slavenet
Central. We are currently filling regional positions in the southern
states. If you wish to aid in building this network, or just want to
provide a different look to your messages, request slavenet.zip from
the address above.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

squibby

"By the end of this text Schopenhauer has argued that the
university is inextricably compromised by the interests of the state,
that this necessarily involves it in the perpetuation of the
monotheistic dogmas that serve such interests, and that the consequent
subservience to vulgar superstition completely devastates it ;
degrading it to a grotesque hypocritical sophistry, fuelled by a petty
careerism spiced by an envious hatred of intellectual independence, and
articulated in a wretchedly obscure and distorted jargon that
allows its proponents both to squirm away from the surveillance of the
priests, and to hypnotize a gullibly adoring public."
Nick Land. The thirst for
Annihilation. London,
Routledge,1992

PLEASE USE FREELY- SLM

----------------------------------------------------------------------

WORDS with Madam Emilia.

Q: I want to have a word with you.

A: Oh,,, about having had words with your friend, in the manner
of an argument?

Q: Ahh, yes, i will partake of words in your company. i will share

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 13 24 Oct 1994

them with you, as best i can. But how should i do this? How can we
truly share words, when we each hardly know what we mean? And we
may intend differing meanings with the same words? Eight bits says
i can't tell you _anything_, absolutely coherently. For example, we
were reading our currently favorite book again this morning, "Jake's
Thing", by Kingsley Amis. You would read a page and i would read
the same page, over and again.

A: Yes, I sailed smoothly over a passage containing the phrase,
"works like a black".

Q: And i balked at the phrase, becoming extremely upset that such a
fine book should employ racist language, and that YOU should enoy it.

Q: What's racist about the use of what i took to be the British
idiom implying working hard as a black shire horse, or the frontier
phrase implying working hard as a black-smith over fire and iron.

Q: Oh... err, i hadn't thought of that. I read the phrase as
referring to black slaves being forced to work, which is abhorrent
and should never be used.

Q: And what about our friend who is interested in linguistics who
entertains his friends by imitating accents?

Q: I asked him about that. He said that he is very concerned
about avoiding offending people. He said that he feels better if he
can laugh at stereotypes, that he does not want to unconsciously
use them.

Q: Doesn't that reinforce stereotypes rather than alleviating
their destructive qualities?

Q: I do not know. I used to be appalled by "jokes" involving
stereotypes of any kind whatsoever. "Newfie" jokes, "blonde" jokes,
"jock" jokes. Pugh. Bletch.

Q: I remember that phase of yours. You also entirely lacked a
sense of humour in any normal sense whatsoever, at that time.

Q: Oh, yeah. i remember that. Then, being "politically correct"
became fashionable. I did like some of the general cultural effects
of political correctness being de rigeur; however, its insidious
numbing qualities bothered me. There came to be required mincing
and particular forms of social etiquette demanding particular
affectations of speech, without sufficient reasoning and understanding
supporting them.

Q: Yes, oh Thou of the greater dictionary. What would you rather
have happened?

Q: Agh. The mind boggles. It would seem that occasionally the
good and proper motivation for political awareness became
trivialized when it became political correctness. The onus is on
the individual to display how non anything-ist one is, rather than

FidoNews 11-43 Page: 14 24 Oct 1994

to hear and consider the statements of others with impartiality for
the purpose of understanding others as clearly as possible and
edifying the self.

Q: That's an aweful lot of work, and it can never be done perfectly.

Q: Yes it is, and no it can't.

========================================================================
Fidonews Information
========================================================================

Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
Tom Jennings
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FidoNews 11-43 Page: 15 24 Oct 1994

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