This is getting tiresome and filling my trash can. Can we just focus on the task in hand... whatever that was???
73 de Norm, VK3XCI Mildura, Australia The Wintersun City QF15bt. David Fawcett wrote: > > > On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 7:18 PM, Rand Al Thor > <randalthor_thedragonreb...@hotmail.com > <mailto:randalthor_thedragonreb...@hotmail.com>> wrote: > > > *IMO google "guys", informal way of referring to either sex. > No offence was intended. If you chose to take offence then that's > your prerogative.* > *I don't think things need to be changed because of one persons > dislike for a particular term. Especially when the majority find it > acceptable.* > > > Rand this argument is largely indefensible. You can't offend a minority, > claim that such offense is unavoidable and then claim that such offense > is acceptable because it doesn't offend the majority. > > Melissa was stating that she felt marginalized by the use of the term > 'guys' when she doesn't identify herself as a 'guy'. It is no different > to someone saying, 'hey white people' and someone popping up and saying, > 'could you please not only address white people because I'm not white > and I participate in this forum too'. > > Melissa was also wrong about one point. She stated her political belief > and said that she did not wish to justify it or discuss it which is a > bit dubious stand to take and saying this essentially boils her > political belief down to an ultimatum. By no means is she required > to justify it but if she wishes the forum to use more > gender neutral language then it's likely some explanation is required > before her point is made and the forum changes it's behavior. As it > turned out that further explanation was forthcoming anyway. > > Ok gang, we have two options here. We can either continue to use > language that makes a member of the forum uncomfortable and feel > marginalized or you can make a small, simple and minor modification to > the language we use and make a member of the forum feel welcome and > included. > > There is a third option not available to the rest of us: Melissa can > accept that the term 'guys' as gender neutral and choose to feel > included when this term is used. While we can encourage her to change > her mind about this ethically we can't try to force her to change her > mind by continuing to use the term. What I mean by this is that the term > means what it means to her and we should be aware that continuing to use > it makes her feel alienated regardless of what the term means to the > majority. > > Personally I'm all for inclusion and I would encourage everyone on this > list to make the small change that Melissa has requested in order to > make her (and women in general) feel more included. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.791 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2760 - Release Date: 03/21/10 > 06:33:00 > -- ubuntu-au mailing list ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
