OT: Propaganda

[fxmac at uaf.edu]

Off-topic: As a mere subscriber, may I suggest to our American fellow      
> subscribers that using sigs to push their political or religious      
> propaganda may be unwelcome (or even offensive) to (some) non-Americans?     
>      
> f     
......       
> So, it would be alright with you to put in a sig a slogan denying the     
> Holocaust, praising the 9/11 and 3/11 attacks or the Oklahoma bombing,     
> or the slaughter of the Tutsis, etc., etc.? Or perhaps one insulting     
> the Jewish or Muslim or Hindu faiths? Or persons of Hispanic descent?    
....  
This place a meeting space for people with interest in Macs,     
> who come here by choice and have a right not to have their religious     
> (or political) sentiments offended by other subscribers' sigs.    
...    
 I think you protest in others what you do yourself: privileging one particular worldview  
over others. In this case, one opposed to the sig file in question. I don't doubt your  
sincerity or good intentions. But I do not think your action is anything different than  
merely a desire to suppress another's expression for one's own comfort. Even if that   
request is ostensibly on the behalf of others.    
 The sig file in question, while I am not particularly in agreement with it, threatens   
neither myself nor others with implicit or explicit violence. Nor is it something that   
venture to impose his will upon anyone. It is only an expression of his personal  beliefs,  
not a demand that others share them. As such, I don't find it to be something that is  
necessary to suppress. Sig files that neither amuse nor inform are best ignored. I have  
successfully not taken offense at it for months and expect that I will be able to continue  
to do so. 
  To reframe, in order to demonstrate that you offend in the process of protesting      
offensiveness, consider that it might be "unwelcome (or even offensive) to (some)"      
Americans to ask that someone not use his/her personal sig file for his/her personal      
email. I certainly find it to be offensive to promote the idea that censorship for so trivial   
an item is even desirable because I think that is a dangerous path to start down.  
 Regarding the obligatory reference to various other tragedies, this is an error in  
categories. Someone who promoting the positive aspects of Buddhism, for instance, in  
a sig file would have been a more apt comparison than suggesting that the original sig  
shared in impact one referencing the Holocaust, 9/11, etc. There are distinct differences  
in quality and scale. 
 Finally, while this list is for issues related to the Mac, and not for proselytization, and I  
agree with you in this, it is also true that we do not subscribe to this list in order to see  
everyone have agreeable or at least neutral sig files. It is the content of the postings  
that is important. In some fashions it is similar to saying I didn't get an email address to  
get spam, however, you will get some. I have simply learned to filter it. 
 I would normally reply off list, however, since it was something you believed, (perhaps  
rightly, perhaps wrongly) necessary to post to the whole list I think it necessary to say  
publically, no, requesting the poster remove the sig file is not a positive thing. I will not  
post again to this list regarding this issue. 
Sincerely,     
Miles