To...... ``bright
``bright began to jabberwocky so:

 `A#> I hope you're not postponing your next shower till it comes.

        Bite me.

 `A#> I haven't seen any instances of anybody being punished.  Are boys
 `A#> being  punished when they can't join the girls' summer basketball camp?

        Strangely enough, the idea of segregated summer camps (or sports,
        for that matter) is rather alien to me, so the thought never
        occurred to me.  I honestly don't see why one would think otherwise -
        especially when we start mentioning the differences in funding
        between men and women's sports at all levels.

 SS> For a VERY long time there has been a great deal of
 SS> inequality - but I cannot see how FURTHER inequality is the
 SS> same thing as equality. 
 `A#> Again, I see nothing in this case that creates any inequality.

        Apparently we shall never agree on this.  You've gone to great
        lengths - including your comment about every month being white
        history month - to vindicate a reverse inequality under the name
        of equality.

        The way I see it, simply settling for a "Black History Month", or
        a segregated women's issues class and the like is EXACTLY the same
        sort of aspirin that I was talking about in my essay about Littleton.

        How do you justify ONLY a month being dedicated to black history?
        Or Asian history?  Or Native American history?  It's all
        separational bull - a token offering that in reality simply
        increases the perception of "us and them", doing no-one any good
        save those bigots who desire such a thing.

        While I can easily understand Jessica's point about short-term
        counseling for abuse and rape victims, I /cannot/ see how advocating
        such an attitude society-wide as any kind of long-term solution
        will do anything save further emphasize the differences rather
        than the similarities.

        Racism - and all forms of bigotry, whether they be about religions,
        skin color, gender, sexual preference, social class or ethnicity -
        is inherently based on perceived /differences/.  Consistently, such
        bigotry is only overcome when people are forced to acknowledge the
        similarities and learn to understand (as best they are able) the
        differences.

        It was only when a jock opened up to me about his mentally abusive
        father that I finally understood that he had the same confusion,
        the same /emotions/ that I did, things that I had never credited
        him with prior to learning about our similarities. [1]

        And then I couldn't hate him anymore, no matter how much he had
        made my life hell for years before.

        Understanding - and acceptance of differences - can only come about
        through communication.  Voluntarily cutting off such an avenue
        can only appear as an addition to the problem, not any kind of
        real solution.

        [1] For the record, my father wasn't abusive.  It was the
        vulnerability, the desperation, the desire to be accepted that
        I empathized with.