Caricature challenge

[Randall Lee Reetz]

I ask you this Lynn, what is more offennsive, speaking an uncomfortable opinion, or defending politness over and above the right to publically expose one's ideas?  There are by definition lots of polite people in every oppressive culture... (the rest are in prison, dead, marginalized, or admonished into servitude). Be careful which you serve, polite ain't freedom.  Polite ain't grace.  Your story is about control.  Why weren't you offended by the social tyrany of the people "knocking the highest nail down"?  We are getting so used to this we are forgetting the difference that matters.   I for one am very very thankful for those who heeded a higher goal, people like ghandi and martin luther king and lincoln and the guy who stood in front of the tank in china.  These people acted under a larger definition of the word polite.
Randall
-----Original Message-----
From: "Lynn Fredricks" <lfredricks at proactive-intl.com>
To: "'How to use Revolution'" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
Sent: 12/19/2007 10:26 AM
Subject: RE: Caricature challenge

> I agree with Dave that Wilhelm probably never intended to 
> make a political statement about Bush with his picture. 
> Overhere in Europe it is totally OK to make fun of people, 
> whether we respect them or not.

I think everyone is in agreement that this list isnt the place for that. In
fact, given the number of international clergy and political activists on
this list, it is remarkable how well we've been able to maintain the peace
and focus on the technology.

In my businesses, we have offices throughout the world, and a very broad
range of cultures. When it comes to very sensitive topics like politics and
religion - it simply isnt discussed. In the late 80's, I began living in
Japan, and lived there continuously for about six years. Any expat living
there quickly learns the old addage in Japan - "the nail that sticks up gets
knocked down". Of course as a knuckle-dragging barbarian, I was an awfully
big nail at first, and to me, this translated to "when in doubt, shut up".
What is also interesting is that, if you are together in a group and
knocking back quite a bit of sake or shochu or your local beeru, slips are
permitted and forgiven.

Anyway - ones's notion of the application of freedom of speech varies
culture to culture. And as far as I can tell, its possible to politely
respect differences in how that is applied. There's a universal norm that,
in almost any culture, if you say something that offends grandmother, even
though its legally okay to say it, you can and will get wacked upside the
head by an umbrella, huge brockaded hand bag, tray of cookies, rolled up
newspaper, presto log, or maybe a week old baguette. Let's let the spirit of
grandma prevail, especially since we do not know what Heather List Mom is
carrying around :-)

Best regards,

Lynn Fredricks
President
Paradigma Software
http://www.paradigmasoft.com

Valentina SQL Server: The Ultra-fast, Royalty Free Database Server 




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