Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site hpda.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!hpda!on From: on@hpda.UUCP (Owen Rowley) Newsgroups: net.motss Subject: opportunity,the net,and language Message-ID: <503@hpda.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Aug-85 18:48:37 EDT Article-I.D.: hpda.503 Posted: Thu Aug 8 18:48:37 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 22:31:27 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Hewlett Packard Co. Cupertino, CA. Lines: 93 *** Replace this line with your opinion .. please! *** Dear Netland So here we are , on a national network that connects thousands of computer professionals and there are a handfull of people who contribute to this newsgroup. I don't count Ken Arndt because he doesn't contribute he har*ass*es, and annoys but he doesn't contribute. For the most part I enjoy the "jason" material but its not really substantive. Occasionally I see factual reportage of parades, or film fests, or Aids research, but I dont find dialog or anything resembling real discussion of the issues that face Gay people living in America today. Obviously the vast majority of subscribers to this news group are just readers, I guess this is standard but it would seem to me that we are missing an opportunity here to take advantage of a valuable resource. Often two or more days to go by with no postings at all!! Often I need to check some newsgroup that is guaranteed daily postings (like net.jokes or net.bizarre) to determine if my notes feed has dried up or what. Look in net.women or net.religion and you will find a whole different kind of ballgame, but here in net.motss you hardly ever see responses to the few articles that do offer informative material worthy of discussion. Too often when a topic starts up , like the recent controversy over children and the state control of Gay peoples right to foster parent, I see replies that consist of whining and bitching. Perhaps the name motss is too obtuse and there are hundreds of Gay users out there that don't know it exists on the net.... in which case we need to get the word out... Perhaps there just aren't that many Gay users out there, but I doubt that More than likely its a reflection of closeted attitudes and unwillingness to be known as Gay in the workplace. We could refer to this special brand of attitude as *net*itude. And who says you gotta be gay to post to motss Is Ken Arndt the only non gay who reads this newsgroup? I suspect that there are plenty of people reading this newsgroup who are undecided about their sexuality or who would be enriched by open disscusson of what it is to be Gay in America today. Also from the geographical standpoint one might surmise that Gay people only exist in Boston, and california. ( who knows mayby its true) Though I suspect that once again this apparently uneven distribution reflects closeted attitudes. I think that it would be valuable for ROM's (Read Only MOTSS) to be able to have access to a newsgroup with informative discussion on the many aspects of what it means to be Gay and out of the Closet. It would also be valuable for non gay readers to hear directly from us about the issues that face us. I Don't agree with Ken Arndt on practicly anything he says , and I definitly don't agree with his method or style. But I think that Ken Arndt shows us an accurate portrayal of the kind of bigotry and missinformed public that we are gonna have to learn to deal with if we are to live our lives openly and out of the closet. The slurs and stereotypes that Ken throws around are not the product of his stagnant imagination, they are deeply ingrained in our cultural experience. Those of us who are priveleged to live in areas with a well developed Gay press know that we are involved in a struggle for our lives that will only get more difficult before it gets better. We don't need Ken Arndt to tell us that large segments of American Society would like us all to crawl back into our closets and die from our "so called perverted" sexual practises. And it doesn't take a brilliant mind to deduce that before the AIDS crises is over there are gonna be a whole lot of Ken Clones blaming Gay people for inflicting AIDS on the nongay population. Unfortunatly the american public does not get the in depth coverage of the latest AIDS research nor does it get accurate reporting about the fact that AIDS is epidemic amongst some hetero populations in Africa. This network is a new Media, perhaps the only media where the individual has the opportunity to adress everyone else and still maintain a low profile. Even if you are so closeted that you feel you cannot reveal yourself at your workplace you can ask someone who posts regularly to forward your anonymous opinion.(no guarantees I guess but it might be your first opening to becoming a complete human being) If you have root access its no problem to create an anonymous acct to post with. Computer networks are marvelously anonymous creatures in themselves in that you can reach deep levels of communication without having to risk close personal contact. I used several BBS systems here in the Bay area when I was first coming out and it provided me with many hours of theraputic contact with others without ever once having to reveal my self to any one on a personal level. After getting used to myself as a Gay identified person on the BBS's for six months it was a relativly easy transitionto integrate myself back into the world of the living. To get back to my main point....there are a lot of things we could be discussinghere that could provide valuable resources for us all, Gay and non Gay alike. I know that this letter is pretty long as it is but I would like to introduce a topic that is important to me. (just to get it going OK) I have taken care in this posting to avoid using the word straight... For one thing I'm not bent or broken (least i wasn't last time I looked) and since I'm writing I will use the terms I like which are Gay and non-Gay. Net.women has had a lively discussionabout pronouns and gender identification and I think that the concept of labeling by sexual preference fits right in to all the points being made over there on that subject. perhaps you might have some interesting insight about how words and labels... like Gay and Fag or Queer etc etc... create the reality of our situations. Some Gay men habitually refer to each other as "she" or as "girls".. Can we talk???? well enough for now .. Thanx for reading this far, and I hope that this will all be taken in a positive manner. LUX .. on Owen Rowley {ucbvax|hplabs}!hpda!on