From: bavafa@netcom.com (Hooshyar Naraghi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: When Was Your First Time?
Date: 26 Aug 92 09:17:42 GMT
Organization: Joker

In article <1992Aug25.054030.7088@eng.umd.edu> alireza@eng.umd.edu (Alireza Karimzadeh-Rad) writes:

>My first time on SCI was around this time last year. My second or
>third posting was a "rashti" joke. This joke was recently posted again
>by someone else (the one about the guy who found his
>wife in bed with another guy, remember? Only in mine he tried to save
>his bike instead of an umbrella). Anyway, the crusaders of SCI decide
>to start a holy war. Ala began chastising me, pointing out the error
>of my ways. Mash Cheragh Ali, having found some "nafteh moft", pulled
>up his "fitileh", and came to the rescue of all ethnic groups in Iran,
>never ceasing to include one liners which I'm sure seemed very funny
>to him, and possibly Mr. Naraghi who played Kuwait to Mr. Cheragh
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1
>Ali's Iraq, passive yet supportive.
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^2
[reference to Babak Sehari deleted as irrelevant to my post]

Hi Alireza!  Thanks for your sharing the episode.  I didn't know that it
would back fire on me!  :-)  There are two points that I will address
now that you 'khat-khati' my name.  As you know I was the 11th 'harrAf'
person in this newsgroup so I better go to the points.

1- dAee joon, I play football a lot but I do not recall playing Kuwait. :-)
Perhaps it looked that way which I hope by now it's different.

2- I think if I remember it correctly, I was expressing my views about the
alleged joke very actively.  It was not just a passive support.  But in the
final analysis you ought to be the judge.

>Anyway. Since then many newcomers have posted ethnic jokes, yet none
>of the above mentioned or anyone else for that matter has said a word.
>I even sent e-mail to a couple of these newcomers warning them of what
>would happen to them, but nothing ever did. To this day I don't know
>what made these people pick me as their sacrificial lamb.

This is a good point that you are addressing.  I agree with you that nobody
is objecting to jokers (i.e., those who say jokes) the way some of us 
criticised your post.  This absence of criticism is not indicative of people
to have changed their views about appropriateness of saying jokes.  But, I 
can say we gave up on discussing the subject.  Enough was said, and apparently
it did not change jokers' mind.  So the topic was left as it was.  As a matter
of fact you took an argument that there was nothing wrong in saying just few
'AbdAr' jokes.  I would even venture that those who have contributed jokes
since then owe it to you who paved the way for their easiness to post their 
jokes.  So the sacrifice of the lamb was not futile after all.  You helped
us - the opposers of saying jokes - to see the light.

I need to mention one more thing to be fair in this discussion, and that is 
eventhough I disagree with saying jokes, I have not been free from this
sickness myself.  So I have a long way to go.  It would be nice to do some-
thing about it, of course as long as one believes something is wrong.  A
joker probably doesn't see it that way.

>What I'm really hoping is that after that episode, we have all come
>to enjoy an SCI with a better sense of humor; wishful thinking on my
>part more likely.

I hope so too.  We have changed a lot, with exception of very few netters.
My observation in the last year or so tells me sci is much more _tolerant_
than one year ago.  But, as I stated tolerance is not necessarily equivalent
to acceptance of the opinion itself.  Perhaps it would imply more a respect
to the poster no matter what s/he was posting.

I am sorry if my reply had made the impression that I was against you.  That
was not the intend.  I was merely disagreeing with the act.  you just happened
to be the first 'doer' of the act.   My sincere apologies to you.

Regards,
Hooshayr F. Naraghi
bavafa@netcom.com
(415) 324-1055
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian