Xref: utzoo can.general:1820 can.politics:2823
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!ubc-cs!van-bc!uunet!microsoft!alonzo
From: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo Gariepy)
Newsgroups: can.general,can.politics
Subject: Re: postings in the French language
Message-ID: <7923@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 2 Oct 89 01:26:57 GMT
Reply-To: alonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo Gariepy)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 26

I think this meta-discussion is getting a little silly.  Communication
is voluntary.  People choose what they say and to whom they say it.
That includes the subject, medium, language, and destination.

When you see someone (in this case a man) post a message in French, you 
can assume one or more of the following:

*  He speaks only French.
*  The message requires a degree of precision only achievable in his 
   native tongue.
*  He knows there are some French speakers who will read his message.
*  His question is specific to French speakers.
*  He is in France and doesn't know how to limit distribution.
*  He prefers to discuss certain subjects with speakers of French.
*  He is perfectly bilingual, but feels that using a language only partially
   understood by his audience confers some tactical advantage.
*  It was easier for him.

I support anyone's right to use this public network.  If I could eliminate 
a category of messages from the net, it wouldn't be on the basis of language.  

So let us get back to how the rest of Canada is helping to obliterate the
few remaining dregs of culture in Quebec.

Alonzo Gariepy	
alonzo@microsoft