Hello Ron:
Your statement "we're comparing our having fun traveling to various dances to
the widespread persecution of an ethnicity (the worst being the Holocaust)."
was an intentional, malicious, misguided personal attack on every
contradancer who speaks the words "dance gypsy," who uses the word "gypsy" when
teaching a dance, who has a T-shirt or bumper sticker with those innocuous
words, or who converses about "gypsy" figure--no matter how much socially
consciousness that dancer may be in thought and in deed.
You probably should not participate in any public forum about even a mildly
controversial topic, if you take personal affront at someone who, with an
accompanying explanation, refers to an idea you expressed as absurd.
Maybe you need a more specific example. In the past 6 months I attended two
dance weekends which featured a particular well known caller. The first
weekend this caller used a surrogate for "gypsy." The next weekend, several
months later, this caller used the term "gypsy." Any suggestion that this
caller was now "having fun" with "the persecution of an ethnicity (the worst
being the Holocaust)" will strike most people as absurd--whether you think so
or not.
And your associating with the Holocaust any aspect of contra dancing seems six
million times more tasteless and inappropriate than someone referring, with
explanation, to an idea of yours as absurd. You owe everyone on this list an
apology
Michael Fuerst 802 N Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217 239 5844
