Paul:
Though hardly a voice of reason, lemmy step up here.
As George Carlin noted in his "Seven Words you can't say on TV", they
indeed are just words. But as we all know some words can contain
powerful meanings and sentiments.
Without getting specific, it is the same as using various terms to
name certain ethnic groups. Asian, Afro-American, Latino, Italian,
Irish, etc. all have nick-names that are degrading, demeaning,
threatening, etc. As a Safety Steward,if you call me a Safety a--hole,
then you have not offended me, my wife or anyone else's religion,
race, and the like. You have voiced an opinion of a
decision/perception of a course change or operating procedure.
Since you are on my joke list, you know I am not easily offended.
However, in a "public" forum I think a certain amount of caution must
be used. If one of our elder racers happened to have a number tattooed
on to their arm, they could indeed take offense to the nick name.
Should anyone be a son/daughter of one of those people, again, they
might be more sensitive to the term.
It all has to do with who your "audience" is. If you are sitting
around in your own house talking about how great Buford Furrow is,
that is your right. But if you are sitting at the back end of your
trailer in the paddock, and someone next to you might be offended,
then restraint should be exercised. The racism will still exist, but
no one will have to hear about it. We already know, from Teamdotnet
posts, that there are racists who will be parked at this year's
Nationals. They are free to attend, but I certainly do not have to
communicate with them.
Matt Murray
mailto:mattm@optonline.net
mailto:mdmurray@gwns.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Foster <pfoster@gdi.net>
To: team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: Safety Nazi was RE: Kudos to NAP and Mark Sipe
>Alan Pozner wrote:
>>
>> While I understand the intent of the term Safety Nazi, please
recognize the
>> incredibly offensive nature of the term from a Jewish person's
point of
>> view. While I hate politically correct stuff as much as the next
guy and
>> recognize the importance of freedom of speech AND recognize that
words are
>> just words I ask that you avoid this personally offensive term in
the
>> future.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Alan "yeah, I am Jewish" Pozner
>
>Hello Alan,
>
>Sorry but I just don't get it. If you don't mind me asking, what do
you
>find so personally offensive about the term?
>
>Paul Foster
>
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