Oliver Pereira wrote:
Toby Bartels wrote:
>("racist", Susan Mason's word, is
indefensible, I agree.)
I know that defending Susan Mason is very much a
minority pursuit around
here, but I should point out that at no point on [[Talk:Idolatry]] (where
this all started) did Susan accuse anyone of racism. I've just checked all
of this user's edits on that page, to make sure.
Then I owe Susan an apology.
What I was trying to do was to draw a contrast
between the neutral word "segregation" and the value-laden word
"racism".
(Segregation is not racism, except of course for segregation by race.)
It's not really relevant whether anybody actually called anyone a racist.
The point is, if people are not charging one with bigotry,
then one shouldn't be offended as if they were.
Susan's statement was of course badly worded, but I
don't see it as an
accusation of racism, myself: it's about what writing systems one uses,
not about what race one belongs to. And please let's not argue about
whether or not one *could* interpret as racist. My point is that Susan
didn't use the word "racist", and the statement can be interpreted in
other ways.
In fact, this is basically my point. ^_^
P.S. - Jimbo and Toby - don't take this as a
personal criticism. You're
both great people, and it's just unfortunate that your messages were the
ones I found to use as examples...
I'll take it as a *correction*, not a *criticism*.
And thanks for the compliment.
-- Toby