From: jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)
Subject: Re: New Story: Mushroom Thief
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 23:53:13 GMT


In article <1id0jhINNbqs@gap.caltech.edu> laurence@cco.caltech.edu (Dustin Lee Laurence) writes:
>jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey) writes:
>
>>	This was a work of fan-fiction based on a character created by 
>>Tolkien and it is certainly appropriate in a Tolkien fan newsgroup--  at
>>least until such a time as we create a seperate alt.tolkien.fanfic.  Just
>>because you found the story not to your taste does not give you the right
>>to say that it is not appropriate here.  The story was not to my taste
>>either, I'm certainly not trying to pretend it's not an appropriate posting
>>for a group devoted to Tolkien fandom.  Please don't demean _us_ by setting
>>yourself up as the Tribunal of Newsgroup Purity and declaring that certain
>>types of postings do not belong here simply because you don't like them.
>

>
>Sorry, Jim; I entirely agree with him, except more strongly.  That story was
>no more appropriate here than anti-semetic rhetoric would be in a newsgroup
>devoted to (and pro-) Judaism or a burning cross would be on public property.
>People do have rights, as you note, but one of them is the right to exclude
>offensive material.  The KKK may have the right to march and demonstrate, but
>they don't have the right to surround someone else's home in doing so, or
>harass people who do not wish to be harassed.
>

	And who exactly was being "harassed" by this posting?  Was somebody
mail-bombing you (or anybody else) with copies of it?  Were people surrounding
your house and chanting the words of the story?  Were you (or anybody else) 
somehow being forced to read it against your will?  Or was this piece of 
pornographic fan-fiction something posted to a public newsgroup that you are 
voluntarily reading?  Was there something preventing you from hitting the 'n'
key and skipping moving on to the next article as soon as you realized the 
nature of the "story"?  

	 Some people were doubtless offended by the story, but nobody was 
being harassed, persecuted or harmed by it, so please don't insult us by 
comparing the posting of this story on alt.fan.tolkien to the KKK burning a 
cross in somebody's frontyard.  In addition to insulting the intelligence of 
a.f.t readers, such a comparison detracts from the true heinousness of the 
KKK's attitudes and actions.

	 As for being "offended"-- well, them's the breaks.  Nobody is under 
any obligation to post only things that will not disturb or upset you.  
Different people are offended by different things.  A lot of folks, you may
recall, were _extremely_ offended by the fact that people were talking about 
the representation of race and gender in Tolkien's works last month. If you 
really can't stand the idea of having a public forum in which people might
write things about Tolkien or based on Tolkien that you might possibly find 
offensive, then maybe you should stop reading this newsgroup. Or you should 
consider creating alt.fan.tolkien.things.that.could.not.possibly.upset.anyone 
and becoming its moderator.  Then you could carefully screen out all articles 
that could possibly offend your (or anyone else's) sensibilities and you will
be able to ensure that only those things that you want to see and hear will
be posted.


	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>