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Politics : Polite Political Discussion- is it Possible? An Experiment. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (105)	7/29/2006 10:21:33 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1695

If you don't have any black friends because you can't stand blacks You say that this is discrimination. I agree, in the same sense that gentlemen who prefer blondes are discriminating against brunettes. People who choose to live where there are no children are guilty of age discrimination. And come to think of it, gays who only date other gays are discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. IMO this is a perfect example of diluting a word whose real meaning we really need to preserve in social discourse. By applying the word to mere preferences, where there is not a scintilla of overt action or harm, you subtly but surely strip this word of its power. IMO We are in danger of doing the same thing to the term "sexual assault". I have seen this explosive term headlined in a news story, only to discover that the offense was a pat on the rump or touching a breast. Don't freak out, I am NOT saying that such behavior is acceptable. I am saying that the more we use the S-A term for incidents where there is no physical harm, the more we water down the term and in the end rob it of its shock value. Disclaimer: I am obviously making more of your original comment than you intended it to mean. It just gives me a soapbox to argue for preserving the power of words or terms that are vital to our society.