I see Kylie has "pushed a lot of buttons". This annoys me, because I tried REALLY hard to, and NO ONE is flaming me, and it really pisses me off. I think we are all sexist. classist, racists. White people do not have the monopoly on racism, men do not have the monopoly on sexism, and "rich" people do not have the monoploy on being classist. So, maybe we could look at ourselves, and see if these labels might apply, before accusing someone else of calling us names. I will start with myself. I have a spontaneous, involuntary reaction of fear when I see brown-skinned men. Why? I have been assaulted by men, but only white men, never a man of color. Yet I have this strange reaction--where does this come from? Could it be the cultural media??? THe strong racist messages that come from TV, movies, newspapers, since the day I was born? In spite of my best efforts to acknowledge and understand, and STOP this illogical reaction of mine, for which I feel rather ashamed, it STILL happens. I do not act on these involuntary reactions. It is still racism. I think men are primarliy stupid, boorish, testosterone poisoned, arrogant, violent assholes, with a few exceptions. I think women are caring, responsible, thoughtful, loving, wonderful human beings, with only a few exceptions. In spite of reams of information that these gross generalizations are inaccurate, and life experience, I still hold on to these dogmas. This is sexism. I also notice misspelled words, and resist (mostly) correcting them (except my own, of which I am very anal). I could spend my life correcting people's spelling (including Joy's), but WHY? To prove I am smarter or better educated? OR somehow better because I NOTICE misspelled words? I ALWAYS notice, and (with a few exceptions) presume a lack of education on the other person's part. As opposed to a lack of typing skills. Correcting other people's spelling, IN MY OPINION, carries with it a certain air of superiority. This is a form of classism. So, before we go and accuse someone else of "pushing our buttons", maybe we could take some time and discover why we even HAVE buttons to push. And before we accuse someone else of calling us names, maybe we should look and see if the shoe fits......... It is also really important to remember that if we were all face-to-face in this discussions, we would still be as passionate, but maybe things wouldn't seem so offensive--there are millions of clues in facial expressions and voice inflections that are entirely missing in Internet communication. We are pioneers in this medium, and I'd still rather see strong words about volatile subjects than tea party talks. Mary _________________________________________________________________________ Mary Simmons U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division Albuquerque, New Mexico (505)262-5332 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
hot button communication
Mary C. Simmons, Hydrologic Assistant, Albuquerque, NM Mon, 12 Jun 1995 08:46:15 -0600
