From: jfurr@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mr. Furr)
Subject: Re: OMAR's bio : Jive version
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Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 07:51:29 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.230005.29909@midway.uchicago.edu> thf2@midway.uchicago.edu writes:
>In article <1e9224INNitf@master.cs.rose-hulman.edu> cheesmna@HYDRA.ROSE-HULMAN.EDU writes:
>>Okay, let's look at credentials...
>>I'm a Rose student.  I've been on campus for three years.  I've been near and
>>around Omar for three years.  I presently live next to his room.  I've seen
>>Omar in the computing center for nearly two years.  I've seen Omar sitting
>>glued to the television for a GREAT deal of time.  *pant pant pant*
>>
>>You attend school in Chicago.  Have you recently commuted down here to take
>>an in person evaluation of Omar?  
>
>No.  I see no reason to be in Indiana at all.
>
>Look, I don't give a flying oat bran if you make fun of Omar.  Or even
>if you make fun of a hare-lipped diabetic epileptic dyslexic Sri Lankan 
>with one leg and a stutter.  But don't expect me to fall all over you
>with awe because you're capable of making fun of someone no one likes
>when you then brag about it to complete strangers on a worldwide newsgroup.
>
>>Until you do, I would say you keep your
>>unfounded statements regarding the non-existent racism at Rose to yourself.
>
>The jive filter is racist.  Posting something that used the jive filter
>is racist.  Saying "Well, I'm not offended," doesn't suddenly excuse
>the racism.  
>
>The really disgusting part is how every single RHIT poster can't seem to
>get that through their heads.  That's far more telling of your racism than
>anything I've posted.  As is the continual emphasis in RHIT posts 
>of his skin color and his Pakistani origins.  If the real story behind
>Omar was that he was arrogant and inconsiderate, then the skin color
>and national origin would be irrelevant, no?  But it's constantly described
>in "not only that, but he's also..." terms.  And I've seen posts making
>fun of Omar because he misheard something, which should hardly be a surprise
>if someone's wearing two hearing aids that, by all accounts, are hardly
>state-of-the-art technology. 
>
>The really amusing part is how everyone at RHIT has no problem at all
>ganging up on someone who's had a less fortunate life than they have,
>and continuing to do so for three years, but can't even take a wee bit
>of criticism from the world outside of their little insular fraternity
>for more than a few minutes without exploding on the net and e-mail in
>outrage that someone *dared* to call them a name.
>
>It seems to me that you can dish it, but you can't take it in return.  
>The textbook case of a bully.

I'd just like to second what Ted's saying. 

Finding Omar's obtuseness and inflated ego funny is fine by me.

Interjecting at every point possible in these Omar anecdotes that he is 
a) Pakistani and b) dark of complexion, as the Rose-Hulman bigots have
been doing, seems indicative of a certain preoccupation with national
origin and color of skin that has nothing to do with his being egotistic and
confused much of the time.

Doubling over laughing when Omar's somewhat laughable bio is fed through a
jive filter is sick.  If the humor is innate in the bio as originally
written, well and good.  If it suddenly develops additional humor after
being fed through a filter that's chock-full of racist stereotypes, where
is the humor coming from?  Omar?  Or the filter with the racist
stereotypes?  Chuckle at the bio all you want.  But don't increase your
laughter by 300% when it's fed through the jive filter and then say "But
we *know* Omar isn't black!"  The increase in perceived humor value is
coming from the racism, not from Omar. 

Finally, in their defense, the Rose-Hulman bigots have been saying "If I
tell racist jokes and don't mean any harm by them, it's okay!  It's fine!"
That's not a liberal twisting of words; that's close to being a direct quote.

Generations of men have told sexist jokes at work; female employees had to
sit by and suffer in silence.  Courts now call this sexual harassment. 
Generations of African-Americans have stood by while racists told each
other jokes about those dam' uppity nigrahs, and the racists telling said
jokes didn't usually mean much harm either.  They thought they were just
pointing out humor inherent in a situation... as the Rose-Hulman
Omar-haters have themselves said.

If after reading all this, you bozos at Rose-Hulman reply "But hey, you
son-of-a-bitch, *you've* *never* *met* *Omar*," then there's really
nothing else Ted and I can say.  People who live off in a world where
racism and skin color are extra seasoning for jokes don't usually listen. 


The Rose-Hulman people seem to be as deaf as they make Omar out to be.