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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!fortune!crane
From: crane@fortune.UUCP (John Crane)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: Posted as per requested...
Message-ID: <3548@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Jun-84 19:36:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: fortune.3548
Posted: Wed Jun  6 19:36:25 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 19:14:41 EDT
References: <1202@sun.uucp>
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 67

Did you know that programmers as a group are discriminated against.  We are
often categorized as super techie nerds who wear glasses and carry hex
calculators around on our belts.  They say we can't write coherent English
and should never be let out of our cubicles except under leash and muzzle,
etc.

Pretty ridiculous isn't it?  I stretched the truth above to make a point.
But there is also some truth.  However, I'm not aware of any net group
where people do nothing but moan and groan about how unfair society is to
them because they are programmers.

There are other interest groups on the net as well.  The people in those
groups like to discuss the joys and pitfalls of C, UNIX, nude underwater
unisex backpacking or whatever.  Net.religionists get off on flaming each
other. (I finally wised up and got out of that mess.) Net.flamers get off
on flaming, pure and simple.  Again, nobody sits around bitching about how
tough life has been to them because of some proclivity in their makeup
which causes them to take an avid interest in whatever.

Then we come to net.motss.  I realize that this is MORE than an INTEREST
group.  The word "interest" implies something casual, like somebody said
taste in classical music, etc.  I also agree that its MORE than a choice.
Its something a person apparently is born with.  We aren't even just
talking about sexual preference.  Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you
that we are talking about very fundamental attributes of a person's
personality -- all of the above plus how the person views the world, the
person's perception of what is beautiful or ugly, their perceptions of
human relationships.  No, I'm not talking about a Sunday afternoon jaunt
through the Castro, I'm talking about paying the deposit and moving in,
lock, stock, and barrel.

I had a roomate who once counseled me about a very tempestuous relationship
I was having: "You gotta take the shit along with the sugar".  I realize
that the gay life is very hard.  If anybody thinks a person CHOOSES to be
gay, guess again.  It is very nice sometimes, but it can be hell.  I won't
discount the fact that there are bigoted creeps running around condemning
everything they don't understand in the name of science, religion,
parenthood, and everything in between.  It is tough growing up gay.  It is
tough comming out to yourself, it is tough living with yourself, it is
tough dealing with people who don't understand.  Socienty CAN be
oppressive.  I grant all of you all of that.

How does one effectively combat that?  Certainly not, I hope, by being just
as oppressive right back.  We have to stick together as a community.  We
need this news group among other things.  However, what unites us?  What
holds us together?  Holding a collective chip on our collective shoulders
and waiting for somebody or some group to knock it off?  Why not something
positive instead?  It's easy to tell what a lot of the Gay community is
against, but what are they for?  What does the Gay community have to offer
the straight world besides protests and outrageous and alienating behavior?

I don't think we necessarily need to discuss ballet and cooking.  But I
don't think a steady diet of politics, protests, and boo hooing about
unfair other people are is too digestible either.

I think it's time to come down off the cross and STOP BEING VICTIMS and
start LIVING as human beings.  Lets discuss the Gay perception of life.
Lets start building or pointing to some role models that many people say
are lacking among gay people.  Accenting the positive aspects of life is
NOT pretending that the negative one don't exist.

It's back to looking at the rose or the thorn. Is the glass half
empty or half full? I know its trite, but as they say (trite also)
if the shoe fits, ...

John Crane