Author: Dave Gomboc
Date: 18:12:41 04/04/03
Go up one level in this thread
On April 02, 2003 at 22:33:09, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>On April 02, 2003 at 17:56:31, Amir Ban wrote:
>
>>I read it, but I don't understand why you are not going. Let's see, will you:
>>
>>- Be aiding evil acts ?
>>- Do something unpatriotic ?
>>- Identify with views you don't support ?
>>- Appear to endorse the jerk ?
>>
>>None of this seems to apply. It's not like going to Berlin 1936 or even Moscow
>>1980.
>>
>>The only issue that I understand is worrying that you'll be met with hostility.
>>I think it's reasonable to ask the ICGA to ensure this doesn't happen. After all
>>the President is British (and Jewish).
>>
>>Your agenda should be:
>>
>>1. Win the war
>>2. Try to win Graz
>
>This is fair, but I don't feel that it is appropriate for me to go. I don't
>want to accept hospitality from someone who would send something like that in
>email.
>
>It is hard to bother an American with symbols. The swastika doesn't mean that
>much to us, for instance, we don't have a visceral reaction to it. A burning
>American flag means something to some people, but it means very little to a lot
>of people, for instance me.
>
>Soldiers are something different. We had Vietnam, and everyone here knows how
>much the returning soldiers were hurt by people who spit at them and so on. So
>now, no matter what people believe about any particular war, everyone here has
>figured out that the troops are off limits. If you criticize, you go top down,
>not the other way.
>
>I can't think of anything you could send an American that would offend them
>more. Really. If any American has an idea, please let me know.
>
>It goes beyond this though. There is genuine animosity underlying this. I
>don't want to accept the hospitality of someone who hates Americans and feels
>compelled to express it this way. How do you accept hospitality from someone
>who makes it clear to you that he hates you? This is not just a vaguely
>unpleasant post, or something like that. This was an email so off the wall that
>I thought it might be a forged-header "Here is a special program, you are the
>first to see it, I hope you are liking it very much" virus thing.
>
>Perhaps the sender meant it as an anti-war email. But I took it as a hate post,
>and I think most Americans would also take it this way.
>
>Beyond all of this is something very concrete that affects someone other than
>myself. I have received an email that essentially expresses the hope that a
>specific basically innocent person will undergo torture and death, which seems
>rather likely at this point. How can I receive this and have anything to do
>with the person who sent it?
>
>Finally, let's talk about the person who sent the email. He sent more of these,
>with little stir. Maybe an angry email back. If I had ignored this, if I had
>argued with him about the war, if I had called him an asshole, or in some other
>way had reacted as *he* planned, he would feel like he had done the right thing.
> He would feel good about having done this. If I do this instead, perhaps at
>some point he will regret that he sent this material. He may feel bad about
>having done this. That's a step in the right direction.
>
>Let him learn that there are consequences when you do this kind of thing.
>
>bruce
While the first email sent to you alone is bad enough, sending you a second,
even more objectionable email after you expressed your displeasure with
receiving the first shows very poor judgement on the part of the sender.
You could consider doing the following things:
1. Check if in your jurisdiction, there is something that limits freedom of
expression ("speech" in the USA) where the primary purpose of such expression is
to espouse hatred.
2. If so, file a formal complaint with your local police.
3. Check if in the sender's jurisdiction, there is something similar.
4. If so, file a formal complaint with his local police.
5. File a formal complaint with the sender's employer. (Even in a university,
there are practical limits to an academic's freedom of expression.)
6. I hope you are able to at least receive a formal apology with a commitment
that such an act will not be performed by the sender again. Of course, you
could try to press for considerably more than that, depending on how badly
you've been offended.
Dave
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